Balancing Care Decisions for Gravely Ill Patients: Mayo Clinic Researchers Report Their Findings in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

(From AScribe)

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers studying gravely ill intensive care unit (ICU) patients found that unrealistic family expectations resulted in the increased use of health care resources without a significant improvement in survival rate among these patients.

The February Mayo Clinic Proceedings study is important for patients who have a high likelihood of death in a hospital. Early, accurate identification of these patients when they arrive at the hospital might limit potentially futile, aggressive ICU care to such patients. However, limiting such aggressive care based on inaccurate tools might shorten potentially productive lives, says Keith Berge, M.D., a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist who was the lead …