Ethics and palliative care consultation in the intensive care unit

Ethics and palliative care consultations have much to offer and to those trying to work through the very complex and often tragic cases they encounter in their daily practice. Potential strengths include clarification of confusing normative issues, facilitation of shared decision-making, conflict resolution and experience in providing comfortable care. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that many people are reluctant to use ethics and palliative care. There are, of course, many possible reasons for this, including a lack of quality services in some institutions, problems or power and control, and misconceptions about the role. We hope that we have helped to clarify the roles of ethics and palliative care in the ICU. We call for further development of high quality ethics and palliative care services and the use of these services by staff.