With the impressive improvements in medical care in recent years, it is to be expected that intensive care unit (ICU) care would result (as well as reducing mortality from serious critical illnesses) in increased comfort and dignity for patients and their families, thus reducing their suffering. However, the latter objective is still far from a reality, and the practice of applying futile support therapies is still common in the ICU setting, particularly among patients who eventually die in the hospital [1]. It has been estimated that beds intended for intensive care account for 13.4% of all hospital beds in the USA, representing a cost of 0.56% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Despite the greater use of hospices and end-of-life palliative care, approximately one in five Americans die in an ICU [2]. In low-and medium-income countries, there are a lack of data about the rate of hospitalisation and death in