title: A personal reflection: the slippery slope of hope.
abstract: Sometimes, families and patients compel intensive care unit clinicians to continue aggressive therapies even when the odds of patient recovery are grim. This experienced critical-care nurse suggests that such scenarios are more likely when clinicians use imprecise or ambiguous language when discussing patient prognoses.
authors.affiliation: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. interluk@comcast.net
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stambovsky
mesh_terms: D016638:Critical Illness; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D018447:Medical Futility; D011368:Professional-Family Relations