Abstract

In 2015, the ATS/AACN/ACCP/ESICM/SCCM published an official policy statement about responding to requests for potentially inappropriate treatments in intensive care units. The Multiorganization Statement aims to provide guidance for clinicians to prevent and manage disputes about patients with advanced critical illness. Recommendations 2 and 3 focus on terminology and suggest an alternative set of words to define and to help manage medical futility. Recommendations 1 and 4 focus on conflict resolution strategies and the development of new policies or legislation about when life-prolonging technologies should not be used. Schneiderman and colleagues have written an...