Ethics Roundtable Debate: Patients and Surrogates Want 'everything Done'--what Does 'everything' Mean?

Overview

Journal Crit Care

Specialty Critical Care

Date 2006 Oct 6

PMID 17020595

Citations 3

Authors

Christopher Doig

Holt Murray

Rinaldo Bellomo

Michael Kuiper

Rubens Costa

Elie Azoulay

David Crippen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Highly complex and specialized care plans sometimes overwhelm the comprehension of patients and families. Many optimistic surrogates of critically ill patients err on the side of desiring that everything be done but with a nebulous idea of what 'everything' entails. Physicians must work closely to educate surrogates as to the benefits versus the risks of treatment. Our roundtable experts ponder the question of whether providers possess the authority to interpret unilaterally the nature of requests for everything.

Citing Articles

Estimating the Impact of Words Used by Physicians in Advance Care Planning Discussions: The "Do You Want Everything Done?" Effect.

DiDiodato G Crit Care Explor. 2020; 1(10):e0052.

PMID: 32166233 PMC: 7063893. DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000052.

Islamic perspectives on clinical intervention near the end-of-life: We can but must we?.

Padela A, Qureshi O Med Health Care Philos. 2016; 20(4):545-559.

PMID: 27613411 DOI: 10.1007/s11019-016-9729-y.

Ethics roundtable: 'Open-ended ICU care: can we afford it?'.

Crippen D, Burrows D, Stocchetti N, Mayer S, Andrews P, Bleck T Crit Care. 2010; 14(3):222.

PMID: 20587008 PMC: 2911684. DOI: 10.1186/cc8962.

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