Interviews with intensive care unit survivors: Assessing post–intensive care quality of life and patients’ preferences regarding intensive care and mechanical ventilation

From the Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (ABM); and Specialty Care, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veteran's Hospital, Columbia, MO (LC). Supported, in part, by grant AG11979 from the National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Presented, in part, at the 11th Annual Ladies Hospital Aid Society of Western Pennsylvania Current Controversies in Medical Ethics Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 8, 2002. Address requests for reprints to: Aaron B. Mendelsohn, PhD, MPH, Food and Drug Administration, S600 Fishers Lane, Mail Stop HFD-410, Room 15B23, Rockville, MD 20852. E-mail: [email protected] Studies of intensive care unit patients' preferences toward intensive care have generally reported that the majority of participants would be willing to receive intensive care or mechanical ventilation should the need arise.