- Section 1 ICU organization and management
- Section 2 Pharmacotherapeutics
- Section 3 Resuscitation
- Part 3.1 Respiratory management
- Part 3.2 Circulatory management
- Chapter 61 Pathophysiology and causes of cardiac arrest
- Chapter 62 Cardiac massage and blood flow management during cardiac arrest
- Chapter 63 Defibrillation and pacing during cardiac arrest
- Chapter 64 Therapeutic strategies in managing cardiac arrest
- Chapter 65 Post-cardiac arrest arrhythmias
- Chapter 66 Management after resuscitation from cardiac arrest
- Chapter 67 Ethical and end-of-life issues after cardiac arrest
- Part 3.3 Fluid management
- Section 4 The respiratory system
- Section 5 The cardiovascular system
- Section 6 The gastrointestinal system
- Section 7 Nutrition
- Section 8 The renal system
- Section 9 The neurological system
- Section 10 The metabolic and endocrine systems
- Section 11 The haematological system
- Section 12 The skin and connective tissue
- Section 13 Infection
- Section 14 Inflammation
- Section 15 Poisoning
- Section 16 Trauma
- Section 17 Physical disorders
- Section 18 Pain and sedation
- Section 19 General surgical and obstetric intensive care
- Section 20 Specialized intensive care
- Section 21 Recovery from critical illness
- Section 22 End-of-life care
(p. 299) Ethical and end-of-life issues after cardiac arrest
- Chapter:
- (p. 299) Ethical and end-of-life issues after cardiac arrest
- Author(s):
Carolyn Benson
and G. Bryan Young
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199600830.003.0067
Many survivors of cardiac arrest, especially out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, suffer varying degrees of anoxic-ischaemic brain injury. Accurate neurological prognostication to determine which patients will have poor neurological outcome is important to guide appropriate medical care and advise surrogate decision makers. Accurate prognostication generally requires the presence of two or more negative prognostic indicators, especially following treatment with therapeutic hypothermia. Medical care should be directed at achieving survival that the patient would consider acceptable. Poor quality survival is generally defined as severe disability with full dependency, minimally-conscious, or vegetative state. Discussions regarding prognosis and management of patients who remain unresponsive after resuscitation from cardiac arrest should be conducted in a professional manner and show respect for the individuals involved, their culture, and religion.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Section 1 ICU organization and management
- Section 2 Pharmacotherapeutics
- Section 3 Resuscitation
- Part 3.1 Respiratory management
- Part 3.2 Circulatory management
- Chapter 61 Pathophysiology and causes of cardiac arrest
- Chapter 62 Cardiac massage and blood flow management during cardiac arrest
- Chapter 63 Defibrillation and pacing during cardiac arrest
- Chapter 64 Therapeutic strategies in managing cardiac arrest
- Chapter 65 Post-cardiac arrest arrhythmias
- Chapter 66 Management after resuscitation from cardiac arrest
- Chapter 67 Ethical and end-of-life issues after cardiac arrest
- Part 3.3 Fluid management
- Section 4 The respiratory system
- Section 5 The cardiovascular system
- Section 6 The gastrointestinal system
- Section 7 Nutrition
- Section 8 The renal system
- Section 9 The neurological system
- Section 10 The metabolic and endocrine systems
- Section 11 The haematological system
- Section 12 The skin and connective tissue
- Section 13 Infection
- Section 14 Inflammation
- Section 15 Poisoning
- Section 16 Trauma
- Section 17 Physical disorders
- Section 18 Pain and sedation
- Section 19 General surgical and obstetric intensive care
- Section 20 Specialized intensive care
- Section 21 Recovery from critical illness
- Section 22 End-of-life care