Hospitals cannot admit critically ill patients in ICU if they or kin refuse: Govt guidelines
New Delhi (PTI): Hospitals cannot admit critically ill patients in the intensive care unit in case of refusal by them and their relatives, the Union Health Ministry has said in its recent guidelines on ICU admissions.
The guidelines compiled by 24 experts further recommended that when no further treatment is possible or available in a disease or in terminally ill patients if the continuation of therapy is not going make an impact on the outcome, especially survival, then keeping in ICU is futile care.
Further, anyone with a living will or advanced directive against ICU care should not be admitted to ICU.
Besides, low priority criteria in case of pandemic or disaster situation, where there is resource limitation, should be taken into account for keeping a patient in the ICU.
Criteria for admitting a patient to ICU should be based on organ failure and need for organ support or in anticipation of deterioration in the medical condition, the guidelines stated.
Altered level of consciousness of recent onset, hemodynamic instability, need for respiratory support, patients with acute illness requiring intensive monitoring and/or organ support or any medical condition or disease with anticipation of deterioration have been listed as criteria for ICU admission.
Patients who have experienced any major intraoperative complication like cardiovascular or respiratory instability or have undergone major surgery also feature among the criteria.
"The following critically ill patients should not be admitted to ICU -- patient's or next of ?kin's informed refusal to be admitted in ICU, any disease with a treatment limitation plan, anyone with a living will or advanced directive against ICU care, terminally ill patients with a medical judgement of futility and low priority criteria in case of pandemic or disaster situation where there is resource limitation (e.g. bed, workforce, equipment)," the guidelines stated.
Return of physiological aberrations to near normal or baseline statu, reasonable resolution and stability of the acute illness that necessitated ICU admission, patient/family agreeing for ICU discharge for a treatment-limiting decision or palliative care have been mentioned in the ICU discharge criteria.
According to the guidelines, blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, breathing pattern, heart rate, oxygen saturation, urine output and neurological status among other parameters should be monitored in a patient awaiting an ICU bed.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Owaisi targets Congress over UAPA, denial of bail to Khalid and Imam
Amravati (Maharashtra) (PTI): AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has blamed Congress for activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam not getting bail, saying the stringent UAPA under which they have been booked was enacted during a Congress government.
The Hyderabad MP was speaking at a public meeting in the Chandni Chowk area of Amravati in Maharashtra on Saturday ahead of January 15 civic elections.
The people who talk of secularism during elections are in fact enemies of Muslims, Dalits and tribals as they use political secularism to gain votes, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said.
Both Khalid and Imam were denied bail by the Supreme Court in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case on the basis of Section 15A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, he said.
It was then home minister P Chidambaram who introduced the UAPA (during the Congress-led regime), Owaisi said, adding that he was the only one who objected to it in Parliament.
"I was the only one who had said that this law would be used by police against Muslims, tribals, Dalits and those intellectuals who understand and oppose the government's policies. You can see what happened today, these two children could not get bail because of the definition of terrorism in that law," he said.
While Khalid and Imam are languishing in jail for five years, 85-year-old Stan Swamy -- an accused in the Elgar Parishad case -- died in jail because of this law, Owaisi added.
The Congress supported the BJP government when UAPA was amended in 2019, which is now destroying innocent lives, he further said.
The Supreme Court on January 5 refused bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case but granted it to five others, citing “hierarchy of participation”.
