• Ana Cristina Santos, Simone Luzia Fidelis de Oliveira, Virgílio Luiz Marques Macedo, Paula Lauane Araujo, Francine Salapata Fraiberg, Nélliton Fernandes Bastos, Richard Lucas Alves, da SilveiraCarlos Darwin GomesCDGGraduation Program in Health Sciences, University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil; Graduation Program in Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences (ESCS), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil., Sérgio Eduardo Soares Fernandes, Francisco de Assis Rocha Neves, and Fábio Ferreira Amorim.
• Graduation Program in Health Sciences, University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil; Nursing School, School of Health Sciences (ESCS), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil. Electronic address: anacristina@escs.edu.br.
• J Crit Care. 2021 Dec 1; 66: 126-131.

PurposeTo assess hospital mortality in patients who requested ICU admission in court due to the scarcity of ICU beds in the Brazilian public health system and the consequences of these judicial litigations.Material And MethodsRetrospective cohort study that included adult patients from the public health system of the Federal District, Brazil, who claimed ICU admission in court from January 2017 to December 2019.ResultsOf the 1752 patients, 1031 were admitted to ICU (58.8%). Hospital mortality was 61.1% (1071/1752). Of the requests, 768 (43.8%) were made by patients with priority levels III or IV, resulting in the ICU admission of 33.9% of these patients. Denial of ICU admission (p < 0.001) increased mortality. ICU admission reduced hospital mortality in patients classified as priority level I (p < 0.001), priority level II (p < 0.001), and priority level III (p < 0.001), but not as priority level IV (p = 0.619).ConclusionA large proportion of patients was denied ICU admission and it was associated with an increased mortality. A considerable portion of the ICU-admitted patients were classified as priority level III and IV, impairing the ICU admission of patients with priority level I which are the ones with the greatest benefit from it.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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