Critical care nursing clinics of North America
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Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Dec 1991
Prolonged ventilator dependence: economic and ethical considerations.
Patients who receive ventilator treatment tend to be older and sicker than ever before, factors that contribute to the complexity of ventilator weaning. The provision of prolonged ventilator support entails a commitment of expensive hospital resources, yet survival is often poor. ⋯ Decisions to withhold or withdraw mechanical ventilation must be made with full knowledge and understanding of relevant ethical principles. If ventilator support is to be terminated, this should be accomplished according to institutional protocols that take into account these ethical considerations, as well as the medical and legal facts that apply.