Medical Futility
And the Evaluation of Life-Sustaining Interventions

A wide-ranging and authoritative survey of the complex issue of futile medical treatments.

Marjorie B. Zucker (Edited by), Howard D. Zucker (Edited by), Alexander Morgan Capron (Foreword by)

9780521568777, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 March 1997

220 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 1 cm, 0.32 kg

' … a compact treatment of a complex subject … a very accessible book, clearly written and easy to read … a good introduction … a good, basic introduction to an important topic in bioethics.' The New England Journal of Medicine

This book surveys the clinical, ethical, religious, legal, economic and personal dimensions of decision making in situations when the choice is between extending costly medical treatment of uncertain effectiveness, or terminating treatment thereby ending the patient's life. Contributors from a wide range of disciplines offer perspectives on issues ranging from the definition of medical futility to the implications for care in various clinical settings, including intensive care, neonatal and paediatric practice and nursing homes. An important contribution towards the more humane and consistent handling of these situations, Medical Futility will be obligatory reading for health care professionals, students and scholars concerned with ethical standards in medical care.

Preface
Foreword Alexander Morgan Capron
Contributors
1. Medical futility: a useful concept? Howard Brody
2. Death with dignity Patricia Brophy
3. Physicians and medical futility: experience in the critical care setting Harry S. Rafkin and Thomas Rainey
4. Physicians and medical futility: experience in the setting of general medical care Norton Spritz
5. Futility issues in pediatrics Joel E. Frader and Jon Watchko
6. Medical futility: a nusing home perspective Ellen Knapik Bartoldus
7. Alternative medicine and medical futility Joseph J. Jacobs
8. How culture and religion affect attitudes toward medical futility Mary F. Morrison and Sarah Gelbach DeMichele
9. When religious views and medical judgements conflict: civic polity and the social good John J. Paris and Mark Poorman
10. Conflict resolution: experience of consultation-liaison psychiatrists James J. Strain, Stephen L. Snyder and Martin Drooker
11. Ethics committees and end of life decision making Alice Herb and Eliot J. Lazar
12. The economics of futile interventions Donald J. Murphy
13. Medical futility: a legal perspective William Prip and Anna Moretti
14. Professional and public community projects for developing medical futility guidelines Linda Johnson and Robert Lyman Potter
15. Community futility policies: the illusion of consensus? Bethany Spielman
16. Not quite the last word: scenarios and solutions Karen Orloff Kaplan
Indexes.

Subject Areas: Medical ethics & professional conduct [MBDC]