News Release

Managing Death in Intensive Care Units

January 22, 2003

A recent article published in the British Medical Journal addresses the need for consensus on best practices for managing death in intensive care units. "Withdrawing life support and resolution of conflict with families," by Jenny Way, Anthony Back and J. Randall Curtis of the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington, approaches the question: What is the best way for the intensive care team to work with a family to decide on a plan of care when withdrawing or withholding life support? The article discusses the wide variations in approaches to end-of-life care in most intensive care units and presents case studies illustrating best practices.

Find this December 7, 2002 article at www.bmj.com.

Dr. Back and Dr. Curtis are members of Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care peer workgroups, and Dr. Curtis' Comprehensive Bibliography and Resource Page for Critical Care End-of-Life Issues can be found at www.promotingexcellence.org/navigate/critical_care_bib.html.

For more information contact Karyn Collins at karyn.collins@mso.umt.edu or 406.243.6668.

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Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care was a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dedicated to long-term changes in health care institutions to substantially improve care for dying people and their families.