The de facto use of the ICU as an essential purgatory in the transition to death amongst octa- and nonagenarians is, perhaps, the most wasteful of obligated costs in contemporary healthcare.
While answers to appropriate access and justice don't yet exist, it is crucial that we prioritize a public discourse of what that pathway to access and justice should deliberate, and how it should be implemented in the course of publicly subsidized healthcare.
I just don’t see a way around it when autonomy/individualism is essentially the only notable pillar of ethics in American healthcare. Justice and beneficience from a population perspective is not a real pragmatic part of the conversation in any aspect of American life (beyond the college classroom).
The de facto use of the ICU as an essential purgatory in the transition to death amongst octa- and nonagenarians is, perhaps, the most wasteful of obligated costs in contemporary healthcare.
While answers to appropriate access and justice don't yet exist, it is crucial that we prioritize a public discourse of what that pathway to access and justice should deliberate, and how it should be implemented in the course of publicly subsidized healthcare.
I just don’t see a way around it when autonomy/individualism is essentially the only notable pillar of ethics in American healthcare. Justice and beneficience from a population perspective is not a real pragmatic part of the conversation in any aspect of American life (beyond the college classroom).
Getting a geriatrician in the ICU would be equal to getting a dermatologist to consult on an inpatient.