Transfusion of Blood Products in the Neurocritical Care Unit: An Exploration of Rationing and Futility

Rationing is the allocation of scarce resources, which in healthcare necessarily requires withholding potentially beneficial treatments from some individuals. While it often entails a negative connotation, rationing is unavoidable because need is limitless and resources are not. How rationing occurs is important, because it not only affects individual lives, but also reflects society’s most important values. At the core of any rationing, decision is how much a limited resource may benefit a patient, which can be particularly difficult to determine in the practice of neurocritical care, as prognosis is often uncertain. We present a case for the consideration of futility and blood product rationing in neurocritical care.