title: Decisions, decisions.
abstract: A hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit sits ominously vacant. The family of the patient has just made the gut-wrenching decision to remove the ventilator, and life-support equipment. End-of-Life issues are some of the most common ethical dilemmas that face hospitals every day. But there are a large number of other questions and conflicts that confront hospital personnel. To tackle the issues, many hospitals have formed multi-disciplinary ethics committees to help patients, families and staff approach the really tough problems.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bourke
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D017041:Ethics Committees / Q000458:organization & administration*; D028741:Ethics Committees, Clinical; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D008875:Middle Aged; D014481:United States; D028761:Withholding Treatment