Critical Care Ethics

Critical care ethics involves making difficult decisions about treating patients with life-threatening conditions, where choices often balance saving lives, respecting patient wishes, and considering resource limitations. It emphasizes principles like autonomy (honoring patient preferences), beneficence (acting in the patient’s best interest), non-maleficence (avoiding harm), and justice (fair distribution of care). These decisions may require prioritizing treatments, considering quality of life, and addressing situations where patients can’t communicate. Critical care ethics guides healthcare providers to make compassionate, fair, and transparent choices in high-stakes situations, ensuring respectful and ethically sound patient care.