Non-beneficial Interventions in Palliative Patients Treated in Intensive Care Units in South America: Review Article

Abstract

Introduction: Technological advances in critical care medicine have made it possible to prolong the lives of patients with serious illnesses, but they have also raised ethical dilemmas concerning the use of therapeutic interventions which, in the context of advanced or terminal illness, may be considered futile. In this scenario, palliative care has emerged as an alternative aimed at ensuring the dignity and quality of life of patients and their families. Objective: To analyze recent scientific literature on the approach to palliative care and non-beneficial therapeutic interventions in intensive care units in South America. Method: A review was conducted of peer-reviewed scientific articles published in the last five years, in Spanish and English. The search was performed in SciELO, Redalyc, PubMed, Dialnet, and Google Scholar. The following descriptors were used: “palliative care,” “non-beneficial therapeutic interventions,” “intensive care units,” “adjustment of therapeutic effort,” and “South America,” combined with the boolean operators AND and OR. Theses, non-peer-reviewed literature, and publications prior to 2021 were excluded. Results: The findings show that the lack of institutional protocols, insufficient training in bioethics, and communication barriers hinder care centered on patient dignity. The main limitation of this review is the unequal availability of scientific literature in some countries, which may introduce geographic bias and limit the generalizability of the findings. Conclusions: Early integration of palliative care and the application of therapeutic effort adjustment are essential to humanize critical care in South America.