Ethical challenges in critical care medicine: A Chinese perspective

The major ethical challenges for critical care medicine in China include th e high cost of patient care in the ICU, the effect of payment mechanisms on access to critical care, the fact that much more money is spent on patient s who die than on ones who live, the extent to which an attempt to rescue a nd save a patient is made, and the great geographical disparity in distribu tion of critical care. The ethical problems surrounding critical care medic ine bear much relation to the culture, public policy and health care system in China. The essay concludes that China should allocate more resources to ordinary medical services rather than to critical care medicine.