You arrive for the first of three shifts in a row and find that you are assigned to Patient A.

You discover the following about Patient A?s history:

Patient A came to the hospital for a very serious operation.

An event occurred in the hospital which has left Patient A in a persistent vegetative state.

Patient A?s spouse has decided to keep him alive at all costs.

Folks, this is no Terry Schiavo. We?re not just talking about IV fluids and a feeding tube. Patient A requires just about every form of artificial life-sustaining measures that you can think of. Patient A doesn?t live in a nursing home. Patient A lives in the ICU. The goal of the caregivers in the ICU is not to cure Patient A; it is to stabilize this patient enough so that he may live in a chronic facility.

Patient A is infected with not one, but several strains of multi-drug resistant bacteria. These strains have been cultured from multiple sites. In the course of his care he has been treated with just about any antibiotic that you can think of.

Patient A?s body is an Olympic training ground for microorganisms.

Patient A is on maximum precautions; he requires one-on-one nursing care. The nurse who cares for him may not enter the room of any other patient, and other nurses on the unit may not enter his room.

You find that caring for this patient really makes you think. You have a lot of time to think. You are performing Q 4 hour assessments and nothing ever changes. After a day and a half you feel that you are resigned to the situation; that is, you are finished with being blown away by the sheer futility of it. And the spouse tells you that she has a stability ball at home, for when patient A is ready to do physical therapy.