Communication About Chronic Critical Illness

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Abstract
Advances in intensive care unit (ICU) care have paradoxically created a growing population of patients with prolonged dependence on life-sustaining therapies including mechanical ventilation.1,2 For patients with “chronic critical illness,”1 prognosis is poor: the majority are dead within 6 months, and institutionalization with extreme functional dependence and severe cognitive impairment is typical for survivors.2-4 Costs of care are enormous for the health care system as a whole and for tens of thousands of individual families.5