Erschienen in:
01.10.2006 | End of life: National legislations
End of life in the ICU: laws, rules and practices: The situation in Italy
verfasst von:
Nereo Zamperetti, Rodolfo Proietti
Erschienen in:
Intensive Care Medicine
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Ausgabe 10/2006
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Excerpt
Intensive supports have a double connotation. On one hand they are life saving, since they can support the function of vital organs until recovery and consequently prevent the patient's death. On the other hand, when recovery is impossible, intensive supports risk being merely agony prolonging, as they are able to prolong the dying process well beyond any reasonable interest of the patient. Furthermore, intensive supports are expensive and scarce. For these reasons a limitation can be considered, especially in end-of-life (EOL) situations. Yet, given both critical patients' situation of particular weakness and the usual temporal relationship between limitation and the patient's death, the management of intensive supports in EOL demands great attention and care. …