Futility: a perennial issue for medical ethics

While the era following the Bland decision in 19931 might be thought of as the time when concepts such as ‘futility’ were placed under pressure and scrutiny, it’s an idea that has been debated for at least forty years. In a 1983 JME commentary Bryan Jennett distinguishes three kinds of reason why Ca...

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主要作者: McMillan, John (Author)
格式: 電子 Article
語言:English
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出版: BMJ Publ. 2021
In: Journal of medical ethics
Year: 2021, 卷: 47, 發布: 10, Pages: 649
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總結:While the era following the Bland decision in 19931 might be thought of as the time when concepts such as ‘futility’ were placed under pressure and scrutiny, it’s an idea that has been debated for at least forty years. In a 1983 JME commentary Bryan Jennett distinguishes three kinds of reason why Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) might be withheld:‘… that CPR would be futile because it is very unlikely to be successful; that quality of life after CPR is likely to be changed to so poor a level as to be a greater burden than the benefit gained from prolongation of life, and that quality of life is already so poor due to chronic or terminal disease that life should not be prolonged by CPR.’ pp-142-1432 This crisp definition seems as applicable as it did then, but it was not the final word on the concept. Mitchell, Kerridge and Lovat explore, as others did in the post-Bland and Quinlan eras, how ‘futility’ might apply to those in a …
ISSN:1473-4257
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of medical ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2021-107866