Reflections on care for critical patients at the end of life

Abstract

The influence of technological pragmatism in health care offered to critically ill patients, especially to those who are in the end of life, makes most of them end their days in an intensive care unit. This article defends more humanized care for these people and proposes bioethical reflection on the subject. The text is divided into three parts. Initially, the study presents the reality of intensive care units in Brazil, based on Resolução 2.156/2016 [Resolution 2,156/2016] of the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine, which disciplines medical use and procedures in these sectors. Subsequently, the discussion on some end-of-life issues is contextualized considering international research carried out in four countries, namely: The United States, Japan, Italy and Brazil. The last part is dedicated to the analysis of euthanasia and assisted suicide, considering technical and moral arguments presented by the American physician and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel.