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. "this book provides a very interesting and stimulating dialogue on the increasingly complex end-of-life issues that are so relevant to the practice of intensive care medicine."
(Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, October (2002)