The fast population aging is the most significant demographic change observed in developing countries. Most patients admitted in hospital centers are the elderly, who are willing to submit themselves to treatments in order to return, after discharge, to a functional health status that is similar to the previous one. In this context, attention to the needs of population requires a proper bioethics training of human resources in health care toward geriatrics, including the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). However in the decision of elderly ICU admission, the moral aspects end up being subsumed to the purely technical aspects, with no cogent justification, what may influence the decision in a discriminatory manner, affecting the elderly population. In the present work, six moral arguments against the proposed hospital admission of geriatric patient into the ICU will be addressed and criticized in light of the tools of principlist bioethics and bioethics of protection.
Bioethics; Ethics; Ethics medical; Aged; Intensive care; Decision making