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Pulling the Plug: ICU ‘Culture’ Key to Life or Death Decision

Posted on 05/23/2013

NBC News: “The really important message for patients and their families is, before you end up in an ICU, talk to your loved ones about what you would want,” said Dr. Caroline M. Quill, lead author of the study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Quill and her team analyzed records of more than 269,000 patients treated in 153 ICUs in the United States between 2001 and 2009. Overall, nearly 12 percent of patients had a decision made to go from a “full code” — an all-out effort to save lives — to some kind of limit on care.

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