title: Ethics roundtable debate: patients and surrogates want 'everything done'--what does 'everything' mean?
abstract: Highly complex and specialized care plans sometimes overwhelm the comprehension of patients and families. Many optimistic surrogates of critically ill patients err on the side of desiring that everything be done but with a nebulous idea of what 'everything' entails. Physicians must work closely to educate surrogates as to the benefits versus the risks of treatment. Our roundtable experts ponder the question of whether providers possess the authority to interpret unilaterally the nature of requests for everything.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doig
authors.forename: Holt
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Rinaldo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellomo
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuiper
authors.forename: Rubens
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Azoulay
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Crippen
mesh_terms: D016638:Critical Illness / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000941:ethics*; D019727:Proxy; D016414:Resuscitation Orders / Q000941:ethics*