Biomaterial Database

[The limits of the doctor's duty in intensive medicine (author's transl)]. 1975

J Schara

The technical possibilities of intensive care, bound up with hope and torment for those treated, call for limitation of the duties of the doctor at the point where the treatment becomes mere technical brilliance and utterly pointless for the survival or subsequent life of the patient. The doctor's problem is to know when a treatment is hopeless. The only way to find out is by therapeutic trial. If the expected success is not produced within a reasonable time, then, from the point of view of the proper understanding of medical duty, it must be stopped. An attempt is made to draw up a series of degrees of intensive therapy for practical purposes. The performance of such a graded therapy, which in the last analysis consists of the stage by stage disposal of maximum possibilities of treatment, demands the capacity to think, the courage of responsibility and a great wealth of psychological and human insight.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007362	Intensive Care Units	Hospital units providing continuous surveillance and care to acutely ill patients.	ICU Intensive Care Units,Intensive Care Unit,Unit, Intensive Care
D007883	Legislation, Medical	Laws and regulations, pertaining to the field of medicine, proposed for enactment or enacted by a legislative body.	Medical Legislation
D010347	Patient Care Planning	Usually a written medical and nursing care program designed for a particular patient.	Nursing Care Plans,Goals of Care,Plans, Nursing Care,Care Goal,Care Goals,Care Plan, Nursing,Care Planning, Patient,Care Plans, Nursing,Nursing Care Plan,Plan, Nursing Care,Planning, Patient Care
D001926	Brain Death	A state of prolonged irreversible cessation of all brain activity, including lower brain stem function with the complete absence of voluntary movements, responses to stimuli, brain stem reflexes, and spontaneous respirations. Reversible conditions which mimic this clinical state (e.g., sedative overdose, hypothermia, etc.) are excluded prior to making the determination of brain death. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp348-9)	Brain Dead,Coma Depasse,Irreversible Coma,Brain Deads,Coma, Irreversible,Death, Brain
D002961	Civil Rights	Legal guarantee protecting the individual from attack on personal liberties, right to fair trial, right to vote, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. (from http://www.usccr.gov/ accessed 1/31/2003)	Due Process,Minority Rights,Equal Protection,Legal Rights,Voting Rights,Civil Right,Legal Right,Minority Right,Protection, Equal,Right, Civil,Right, Legal,Right, Minority,Right, Voting,Rights, Civil,Rights, Legal,Rights, Minority,Rights, Voting,Voting Right
D003242	Conscience	The cognitive and affective processes which constitute an internalized moral governor over an individual's moral conduct.	Consciences
D003422	Critical Care	Health care provided to a critically ill patient during a medical emergency or crisis.	Intensive Care,Intensive Care, Surgical,Surgical Intensive Care,Care, Critical,Care, Intensive,Care, Surgical Intensive
D003643	Death	Irreversible cessation of all bodily functions, manifested by absence of spontaneous breathing and total loss of cardiovascular and cerebral functions.	End Of Life,End-Of-Life,Near-Death Experience,Cardiac Death,Determination of Death,Death, Cardiac
D004864	Equipment and Supplies	Expendable and nonexpendable equipment, supplies, apparatus, and instruments that are used in diagnostic, surgical, therapeutic, scientific, and experimental procedures.	Apparatus and Instruments,Devices,Medical Devices,Device, Medical,Devices, Medical,Equipment,Inventories,Medical Device,Supplies,Device,Instruments and Apparatus,Inventory,Supplies and Equipment
D004992	Ethics, Medical	The principles of professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families.	Medical Ethics