Abstract
This essay discusses the ethical issues frequently encountered in intensive care. General principles of bioethics are almost globally accepted. In particular, the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights ensures a universal bioethical framework. However, certain discussions still continue in some specific application areas such as intensive care – which are affected by cultural, religious, legal, and organizational factors. Therefore, specifying the general principles of bioethics concerning the type of the subject to be analyzed and the nature of the ethical reasoning is essential. The nature of intensive care patients and of the services to be provided may cause issues peculiar to intensive care itself, and common ethical issues may become more complicated in relation to the provision of such services.
This essay, first, discusses the causes of ethical issues in intensive care. Thereafter, it explains the nature of the intensive care applications by identifying intensive care and life support systems. On this basis, end of life decisions concerning patients’ preferences, the principle of proportionate treatment (benefit and harm), quality of life, treatment futility, and triage topics will be discussed within the framework of relevant ethical principles.
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Further Readings
White, D. B. (2014a). Ethics in the intensive care unit: Responding to requests for potentially inappropriate therapies in adults. In: P. E. Parsons &, R. M. Arnold (Eds.), UpToDate. Waltham, MA: UpToDate, 2014. Retrieved http://www.uptodate.com/contents/ethics-in-the-intensive-care-unit-responding-to-requests-for-potentially-inappropriate-therapies-in-adults. Accessed 03 Nov 2014.
White, D. B. (2014b). Ethics in the intensive care unit: Informed consent. In: P. E. Parsons (Ed.), UpToDate, Waltham, MA: UpToDate, Retrieved http://www.uptodate.com/contents/ethics-in-the-intensive-care-unit-informed-consent?source=see_link. Accessed 03 Nov 2014.
Acknowledgments
Part of this work was previously published elsewhere (Akpınar and Ersoy 2012). This paper was an extension of the previous publication and covered the novel recent findings. The author thanks the editors of Turkish Journal of Oncology for giving permission to overly citing this paper. The author also thanks to Prof. Dr. Nermin Ersoy for her critical reading and valuable comments for improving the manuscript.
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Akpınar, A. (2015). Intensive Care. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_254-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_254-1
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