Conditions and consequences of medical futility - from a literature review to a clinical model
(2002) In Journal of Medical Ethics 28(2). p.115-119- Abstract
- Objectives: To present an analysis of futility that is useful in the clinical setting. Design: Literature review. Material and methods: According to Medline more than 750 articles have been published about medical futility. Three criteria (language, time period, and the authors expressed their own opinions) singled out 43 of them. The authors opinions about futility were analysed using the scheme: If certain conditions are satisfied, then a particular measure is futile and If a particular measure is futile, then certain moral consequences are implied. Results: Regarding conditions, most authors stated that judgments about futility should be made by physicians. The measure was usually some kind of medical treatment, and the goals related to... (More)
- Objectives: To present an analysis of futility that is useful in the clinical setting. Design: Literature review. Material and methods: According to Medline more than 750 articles have been published about medical futility. Three criteria (language, time period, and the authors expressed their own opinions) singled out 43 of them. The authors opinions about futility were analysed using the scheme: If certain conditions are satisfied, then a particular measure is futile and If a particular measure is futile, then certain moral consequences are implied. Results: Regarding conditions, most authors stated that judgments about futility should be made by physicians. The measure was usually some kind of medical treatment, and the goals related to quality of life, physiological improvement, or prolongation of life. The probability of success in reaching the goal was in most cases described in semiquantitative terms. Regarding consequences, the authors stated that health care professionals may (sometimes ought or should) withhold or withdraw a futile measure, most often after a dialogue with the patient (29 articles), but sometimes without informing the patient (nine articles), or with one-way information (four articles). Over time more and more articles recommend that the patient should be involved in joint decision making. Based on this literature review a clinical model was developed. Conclusions: The model, requiring that conditions and consequences should be made explicit, may, in futility situations, facilitate both the collection of the necessary information and make the moral implications visible. It also makes communication about measures considered to be futile possible without using such ambiguous terms as futile. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/131668
- author
- Löfmark, R and Nilstun, Tore LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2002
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Medical Ethics
- volume
- 28
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 115 - 119
- publisher
- BMJ Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000175069700016
- scopus:0036230902
- ISSN
- 1473-4257
- DOI
- 10.1136/jme.28.2.115
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 85a23b6a-41a6-4472-885c-3ac774ac3e18 (old id 131668)
- alternative location
- http://jme.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/extract/28/2/115
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=11934942&ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:40:30
- date last changed
- 2022-03-07 07:31:27
@article{85a23b6a-41a6-4472-885c-3ac774ac3e18,
abstract = {{Objectives: To present an analysis of futility that is useful in the clinical setting. Design: Literature review. Material and methods: According to Medline more than 750 articles have been published about medical futility. Three criteria (language, time period, and the authors expressed their own opinions) singled out 43 of them. The authors opinions about futility were analysed using the scheme: If certain conditions are satisfied, then a particular measure is futile and If a particular measure is futile, then certain moral consequences are implied. Results: Regarding conditions, most authors stated that judgments about futility should be made by physicians. The measure was usually some kind of medical treatment, and the goals related to quality of life, physiological improvement, or prolongation of life. The probability of success in reaching the goal was in most cases described in semiquantitative terms. Regarding consequences, the authors stated that health care professionals may (sometimes ought or should) withhold or withdraw a futile measure, most often after a dialogue with the patient (29 articles), but sometimes without informing the patient (nine articles), or with one-way information (four articles). Over time more and more articles recommend that the patient should be involved in joint decision making. Based on this literature review a clinical model was developed. Conclusions: The model, requiring that conditions and consequences should be made explicit, may, in futility situations, facilitate both the collection of the necessary information and make the moral implications visible. It also makes communication about measures considered to be futile possible without using such ambiguous terms as futile.}},
author = {{Löfmark, R and Nilstun, Tore}},
issn = {{1473-4257}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{115--119}},
publisher = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
series = {{Journal of Medical Ethics}},
title = {{Conditions and consequences of medical futility - from a literature review to a clinical model}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/4746377/624242.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1136/jme.28.2.115}},
volume = {{28}},
year = {{2002}},
}