Ethical criterions for the admission/dismissal of the patients in an intensive care unit.

Abstract

The article faces the delicate theme of the criterions for the admission/dismissal of the patients from an intensive care unit (ICU).

Moreover, the author examines: the principles that animate the clinical and ethical discussion about the resourse allocation criterions in ICUs in the light of the Italian health care acts; the problem of the definition of fairness in healthcare, the analysis of the prognostic criterions and the objectives of the intensive medicine.

Finally, the article shows and comments the data about the admission/dismissal of the patients in an ICU of Novara (Italy), during the year 2002.