Who should manage the dying patient?: Rescue, shame, and the surgical ICU dilemma

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Abstract
Critical care units are a relatively recent phenomenon. Such units could not have developed without a host of technologic advances in life support equipment. The actual units were generated in response to epidemics that required widespread use of this technology. 6 Baggs J.G Intensive care unit use and collaboration between nurses and physicians. Heart and Lung. 1989; 18 : 332-338 PubMed Google Scholar A dramatic example is the worldwide poliomyelitis epidemic of the 1950s. During this epidemic, many young, previously healthy patients stricken with polio required mechanical ventilatory support to avoid death from acute respiratory failure. 7 Severinghaus J.W Astrup P Murray J.F Blood gas analysis and critical care medicine. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1998; 157 : S114-S122 Crossref PubMed Scopus (68) Google Scholar Nurses were specially trained to deliver such intensive care.

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