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Ethical Issues in Critical Care: Criteria for Treatment

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Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((PHME,volume 51))

Abstract

The first long-term application of life-sustaining therapy in the form of intermittent positive pressure ventilation was accomplished during the last polio epidemic in the Scandinavian countries in the early 1950’s. This epidemic lead to the development of the Engström respirator and the acceptance of intermittent positive pressure ventilation as a safe and effective way of sustaining life in patients, whose spontaneous breathing capacity was lost due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles. It was considered essential to bring these patients together in a dedicated area of the hospital and to assure continuous surveillance, although this was, for the majority of time, provided by lay volunteers. A spatial and functional structure providing life-sustaining therapy was thus created.

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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Delooz, H.H. (1995). Ethical Issues in Critical Care: Criteria for Treatment. In: Wildes, K.W. (eds) Critical Choices and Critical Care. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 51. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0259-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0259-9_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-3701-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0259-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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