Abstract A 43-year-old woman was an unrestrained passenger in a high-speed motor vehicle collision. She was found by emergency medical services to be poorly responsive, with hypotension, mild bradycardia, and…
Abstract Shared experiences are inherently challenging to measure and evaluate, and shared decision-making (SDM) in the context of critical illness is no exception. The shared nature of a decision is…
Abstract In 1959, shortly after the invention of positive pressure ventilation, Pierre Mollaret and Maurice Goulon published the first description of what would eventually be referred to as “brain death”…
Abstract Originating mostly in the world of oncology, palliative care has matured into a wide-ranging field aimed at improving the quality of life of all patients and their families facing…
Abstract “Unbefriended,” or “unrepresented,” patients are those who are unable to make their own decisions with regard to their medical care and lack an available surrogate decision maker. As we…
Abstract Advance directives (ADs) are legal documents that provide information on a patient’s preferences for care when seriously ill. ADs include two separate documents: a health-care power of attorney and/or…
Abstract Ms. Patterson is a 68-year-old woman with a history of hypertension who was at home when she developed a sudden-onset severe headache with vomiting. She called 911 but was…
Abstract The moral ends of medicine established thousands of years ago through the work of historical figures like Imhotep and Hippocrates taught us what it means to be a healer…
Abstract Mrs. Williams is an 82-year-old woman with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension, and diastolic heart failure who is admitted to the medical intensive care unit (ICU) with…
Abstract An 81-year-old woman with a history of non-alcoholic cirrhosis, refractory ascites, and previous variceal bleeding was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with septic shock from spontaneous bacterial…
