Special Articles Recommendations for end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: A consensus statement by the American College of Critical Care Medicine

The primary goals of intensivecare medicine are to help pa-tients survive acute threats totheir lives while preserving and restoring the quality of those lives. These goals are frequently achieved, with approximately 75 % to 90 % of patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) surviving to discharge (1). Even so, the ICU has become a common place to die; studies show that 22 % of all deaths in the United States now occur in or after ad-mission to an ICU (2). Admission to the ICU is therefore of-ten a therapeutic trial. Only when the trial fails do patients and families con-sider a change in goals, from restorative care to palliative care. This change, whic