Providing futile care to ICU patients delayed care for other patients awaiting transfer into the ICU, according to a 3-month study of ICU practices at two hospitals. Indirectly, the study also raises the issue of how to allocate scarce healthcare resources, said medical ethicist Dr. Howard Brody, who was involved in the study. “The main lesson is the impact of care on others," Brody said. "Is there some way in which the care of this patient is always going to affect the care of another patient? If this patient gets this care in this time and this fashion and this place, that means something is not available to some other person." Scarcity is an issue that will probably become more common in the future, he added, alluding to the ongoing shortages of certain commonly used generic cancer drugs that are no longer profitable for manufacturers. "I think we are going to see more and more instances of scarcity affecting larger numbers of patients," said Brody. "In many cases, the scarcity will be hidden and not obvious, and we will have to be very careful about watching to see where they pop up."