Ethical dilemmas in the delivery of intensive care to critically ill oncology patients.

Caring for the critically ill oncology patient presents ethical dilemmas with which the critical care oncology nurse may need assistance. Understanding how values can be in conflict encourages exploration of alternatives. As health care professionals, one of our missions is to learn to make decisions using current knowledge about clinical problems and expected outcomes, value systems that affect our decisions, and systematic approaches to problem solving. Our challenge is well-defined.