Death is a punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favour.
The technology of medicine has advanced to the point that aggressive intervention can prolong the lives of even the most seriously ill or injured persons. The equipment and the human resources needed to provide the heroic care in the ICU are very expensive and costs continue to soar. Yet only one out of every ten critically ill patients treated in the ICU survives. Clearly, there is a need to reconsider, from a compassionate viewpoint, how we choose to use this expensive, often painful and infrequently beneficial treatment option. In fact, countries such as the UK have decided to control ICU admissions so that doctors send only those patients with clearly treatable conditions there.