Admitting cancer patients to the intensive care unit.

The allocation of critical care resources must follow criteria of distributive justice. Because most societies cannot indefinitely expand medical care costs, difficult decisions on the quality and quantity of care that can be rendered to each patient are inevitable. Data on which objective decisions can be based are currently being gathered at many levels. It is reasonable to anticipate that over the next few years regulations will be formulated to decide which patients can be admitted to the ICU. Critical care physicians have the right and obligation to be involved in all aspects of these decision-making processes.