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The Care of Critically III and Dying Patients

William Winkenwerder, Jr, MD

JAMA. 1985;254(24):3454-3457.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THE LIFE-SUSTAINING capability of modern medicine, coupled with its difficult ethical choices, has become the physician's most challenging moral dilemma^1-5 (US News and World Report, Dec 6, 1982, p 53; Time, April 9, 1984, p 68). Caring for critically ill and dying patients is a difficult task that often vacillates between the rational and the absurd, the uplifting and the morbid. Conflicts in values among caretakers are frequently present, and uncertainty is pervasive.

This article addresses the issue of distinctive ethical dilemmas faced by residents in caring for critically ill and dying patients, a problem that springs from the increasing capabilities of medicine and the peculiar role of residents in our medical hierarchy. Residents are fully licensed to practice medicine, but they are not totally autonomous. They have heavy responsibilities in patients' care, but they are not independent in making many decisions. They are usually the primary caretakers, but . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Section of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Section of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Silverstein Pavilion 3, 3400 Spruce St, Phiadelphia, PA 19104 (Dr Winkenwerder).

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