Economics of mechanical ventilation

Mechanical ventilation is a life-saving medical advance. It has allowed many patients who previously would have died as a result of acute respiratory failure to survive. It has also created a population of patients who are unable to recover completely from their acute illness and who require prolonged mechanical ventilator support. The care for these patients raises many ethical, legal, social, economic, and medical issues. Data are needed to adequately meet the challenges of the ventilator-dependent patients in the future.