Limitation of therapeutic effort in person with severe brain injury

Abstract

Discussions about the limitation of therapeutic effort are common in intensive care units and oncology and are also important in long stay hospitals for victims of major trauma and injuries that require long-term health care and social reintegration. In clinical practice, the decision making for limitation of therapeutic effort is complex and multifactorial and should involve the individual, the family and the multidisciplinary team. The purpose of this article is to discuss about limitation of therapeutic effort as a comprehensive process of "adjustment of measures" for consensual aggregation of person-centered factors, marked by intensification of palliative care.

Right to die; Bioethics; Palliative care; Decision making; Brain injury, chronic; Persistent vegetative state