Letter
Can we afford open-ended ICU care? Yes we can, but ...
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* Corresponding author: Jaap E Tulleken j.e.tulleken@icv.umcg.nl
Department of Critical Care, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9730 EZ Groningen, The Netherlands
Critical Care 2010, 14:447 doi:10.1186/cc9267
Published: 26 October 2010First paragraph (this article has no abstract)
The question whether we can afford open-ended intensive care unit (ICU) care should be answered with 'yes we can, but ...' [1]. The discussion is polarized. The US system will crash because everybody is right when it comes to open-ended care, and in Europe endless care is prohibited or rationed. With polarization, we lose sight of the middle path, where truth and solutions usually are found.