Does intensive care medicine "play God"?

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Kunle Emmanuel
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Does intensive care medicine "play God"?

Unread post by Kunle Emmanuel »

Does intensive care medicine "play God"? What's your opinion on heroic medical treatments like Advanced cardiac life support VS "dying at the destined time"?
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Kunle Emmanuel
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Re: Does intensive care medicine "play God"?

Unread post by Kunle Emmanuel »

As nurses and dr's we do what we are trained to do and save/preserve life. But sometimes it is wasted on patients who have zero quality of life. The NFR order is highly recommended for these patients in my opinion, but too many times families choose to prolong the suffering instead of making the decision in the best interest of the pt(in my opinion). We have hospital beds filled with Geri pt's that are kept alive via enteral feeding that should have passed away 15 years ago..... Why do we do this? If there is hope for recovery, YES.... But once hope is gone it is all just a waste of costly resources that could be used elsewhere.

I Have been an ICU nurse for 6 years now and have seen current ACLS and hospital protocols save lives every day. I believe it is and always will be the families and the patients choice to chose heroic measures or DNR status. However, there is an end to life and not even the best doctors and nurses stop the dying process no matter what advanced technology and or skills are at their disposal.
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Alexa1994
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Re: Does intensive care medicine "play God"?

Unread post by Alexa1994 »

Thanks, Kunle for providing such information from experience. It is worthing sharing and reading.. :)
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