Intensive Care Unit prioritization: The impact of ICU bed availability on mortality in critically ill patients who requested ICU admission in court in a Brazilian cohort.

Purpose: To assess hospital mortality in patients who requested ICU admission in court due to the scarcity of ICU beds in the Brazilian public health system and the consequences of these judicial litigations.

Material And Methods: Retrospective cohort study that included adult patients from the public health system of the Federal District, Brazil, who claimed ICU admission in court from January 2017 to December 2019.

Results: Of the 1752 patients, 1031 were admitted to ICU (58.8%). Hospital mortality was 61.1% (1071/1752). Of the requests, 768 (43.8%) were made by patients with priority levels III or IV, resulting in the ICU admission of 33.9% of these patients. Denial of ICU admission (p < 0.001) increased mortality. ICU admission reduced hospital mortality in patients classified as priority level I (p < 0.001), priority level II (p < 0.001), and priority level III (p < 0.001), but not as priority level IV (p = 0.619).

Conclusion: A large proportion of patients was denied ICU admission and it was associated with an increased mortality. A considerable portion of the ICU-admitted patients were classified as priority level III and IV, impairing the ICU admission of patients with priority level I which are the ones with the greatest benefit from it.