Thinking about ICU/dealing with the ethical dilemmas

[wahwahgerman]

Sorry for the redundancy...I'm still in nursing school, however, I am interested in working in the ICU and I'm wondering how all of you experienced ICU nurses deal with your ethical dilemmas. Maybe I'm not using the proper verbiage here....for example, when a family keeps a patient on life support when there is no chance of the patient recovering at all? Or tests are being ordered when there is not a clear need for them. I'm sure you all have run into some complex situations that you do not agree with (with family or physician decisions), but you are unable to do anything about it. Could you give examples of the situations you have dealt with and how you handle it? It sure seems like a unit where there will be lots of tears shed!