Full Description
This volume explores how the scarce resources of intensive care units should be distributed. Three hypothetical patients, each with a different chance of survival, desire intensive care. A multinational panel of experienced critical care physicians offers assessments of the patients' conditions and outlines approaches to treatment. These approaches are then examined by academic medical experts and a medical ethicist, as well as from a legal perspective. The result is a well-rounded and introspective look at care for critically ill patients at or near the end of life.
Contents
Contributors. Foreword; P. Safar. Introduction. Overview; J.K. Kilcullen. Medical Futility in American Health Care; D.F. Kelly. Multinational Perspective on Treatment of the Three Patients. Description of the Cases; D. Crippen. South Africa; R. Burrows. Australia; M. Fisher. United Kingdom; A. Batchelor. India; F. Kapadia. New Zealand; S. Streat. The Netherlands; H. van der Spoel. Russia; M. Karakozov. Hong Kong; I.K.S. Tan. Israel; A. Roy-Shapira. Canada; T.S. Rogovein. Urban United States; D. Chalfin. Summaries of Medical Comments. Patient A. Is Treatment Worthwhile? B. Gipe. Globalization of Critical Care; J.W. Hoyt. A Multilevel Examination of a Critically Ill Patient; J.K. Kilcullen. Patient B. The Decision-Making Process; R. Berger. Should Patient B Receive Critical Care? J.-L. Vincent. The Yin and Yang of Critical Care: Utilitarianism Meets the Law of Supply and Demand; I.S. Douglas. Patient C. Treatment of a `Classic' Intensive Care Unit Patient; M. Levy. Should This Patient Be Admitted to a Critical Care Unit? D. Crippen. Multiple Organ Failure and Intensive Care; R. Burrows. General Multidisciplinary Survey. Discussion of the Medical Aspects of Futility; D. Crippen. Discussion of the Ethical Aspects of Futility; D.F. Kelly. Waiting for the Cavalry: The Role of the Courts in Recognizing Medical Futility; J.K. Kilcullen. Comments From Paramedical Providers. End-of-Life Care in The Intensive Care Unit; G. Ford. Advanced Medical Technology and End of Life: A Respiratory Care Practitioner's Perspective; D.H. Walker. Medical Futility; L.B. Jenal. Afterword; D. Crippen. Index.
