[Treatment Limitation in Intensive Care Medicine].

Abstract

One of the primary tasks of intensive care medicine is the daily evaluation of medical appropriateness of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. If the measures are not meaningful, our ethical principles require us to stop and to allow the person to die with dignity. Decisions at the end of life are subject to various influencing factors and therefore follow national guidelines. The ethical climate not only has an impact on the patient and their family, but burnout rates, employee satisfaction and staff turnover are also directly associated with end-of-life decision-making.