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Abstract

More and more children are surviving through PICU discharge. But discharge may be following a prolonged hospital course, and they may leave with a new slew of medical conditions, sometimes including dependence upon medical technology. This is the pediatric chronically critically ill child. While a definition of pediatric chronic critical illness (PCCI) is not clearly defined, the data supports that it is a cohort of patients that pediatric intensivists are increasingly manage. This chapter addresses the ethical issues that arise with pursuing life-saving measure that result in chronically critically illness, provision of appropriate resources for these conditions, in addition to ethical concerns regarding withdrawal of technological support.

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Miller-Smith, L., Finnsdóttir Wagner, Á., Lantos, J.D. (2019). Chronically Critically Ill with Technological Dependence. In: Bioethics in the Pediatric ICU: Ethical Dilemmas Encountered in the Care of Critically Ill Children. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 77. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00943-4_7

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