Erschienen in:
01.10.2009 | Ethical Matters
An ICU Ethics Consultation: A Second Look
verfasst von:
Stephanie M. Vertrees, James L. Bernat
Erschienen in:
Neurocritical Care
|
Ausgabe 2/2009
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Excerpt
Discontinuation of life-sustaining therapy occurs daily in the intensive care unit (ICU). Guidelines can assist ICU physicians with end-of-life decision making and optimal palliative treatment [
1]. Nevertheless, ICU physicians and hospital ethics committees continue to encounter cases in which guidelines do not clarify the best course of action. One such example concerns whether physicians must discontinue sedation and neuromuscular blockade in an intubated patient before initiating withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. We encountered a case in which ethics consultants recommended delaying cessation of life-sustaining treatment because of therapeutic sedation and paralysis but later concluded that not delaying it would have been preferable. …