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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2003
The challenge of determining that therapeutic intervention is futile is a recurrent ethical theme in critical care medicine. The process by which that determination is reached often involves demanding collaborative and interdisciplinary conversation and deliberation within the context of hospital policy, including ethics committee guidelines. The subsequent decision as to what happens next depends on resources, such as palliative care services, hospice, other hospital protocols, and, of course, family support.