Futility without a dichotomy: Towards an ideal physician–patient relationship

Bioethics 17 (1):21–31 (2003)
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Abstract

The futility debate may be considered as an effort to provide a clear and justified borderline between physician and patient decision–making authority. In this paper we argue that the search for a definition of futility that provides physicians with a final argument in discussions about life–prolonging treatment, is misplaced. An acceptable and meaningful criterion of futility that satisfies this effort seems impossible. As a consequence, we reject a dichotomous domain of decision–making power as the starting point for definitions of futility. A good decision about withholding life–sustaining treatment should be justified from the perspectives of both physician and patient. In this light, a range of definitions of futility is still useful as it can clarify intuitions that a treatment is inappropriate.

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Marcel Verweij
Utrecht University

Citations of this work

Futility, Conscientious Refusal, and Who Gets to Decide.J. K. Davis - 2008 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 33 (4):356-373.

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