Intensive care units in hospitals are reserved for the sickest patients. Critical care is supposed to rescue patients who would die otherwise. This highly monitored care is understandably expensive and labor-intensive. But a new study suggests that about 10% of the patients in ICUs are receiving advanced medical care that is merely prolonging their dying process rather than restoring them to health.
Calculated expenses for this futile care run approximately $4,000 per day. Some of this unhelpful care is driven by family members who want to make sure everything is done for their loved one. The researchers point out that this research underscores the importance of discussing patients’ preferences for end-of-life while they are still capable of expressing their own wishes.
[JAMA Internal Medicine, online, Sept. 9, 2013]
Intensive care involves a larger number of medical interventions, and they are far more precarious in this setting. It makes sense to be aware of the potential for medical errors. To learn more about this, you may wish to consult our book, Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.
