The Costs Of Nonbeneficial Treatment In The Intensive Care Setting
- 1 July 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Health Affairs (Project Hope) in Health Affairs
- Vol. 24 (4), 961-971
- https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.24.4.961
Abstract
Ethics consultations have been shown to reduce the use of “nonbeneficial treatments,” defined as life-sustaining treatments delivered to patients who ultimately did not survive to hospital discharge, when treatment conflicts occurred in the adult intensive care unit (ICU). In this paper we estimated the costs of nonbeneficial treatment using the results from a randomized trial of ethics consultations. We found that ethics consultations were associated with reductions in hospital days and treatment costs among patients who did not survive to hospital discharge. We conclude that consultations resolved conflicts that would have inappropriately prolonged nonbeneficial or unwanted treatments in the ICU instead of focusing on more appropriate comfort care.Keywords
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