What is futile treatment? How is it defined? How do we know when a treatment is futile? Who gets to make that decision?
Does a patient have the *right* to any care? Does a patient have the right to futile treatment?
Relatedly, should a doctor/medical professional/medical team be able to refuse to treat a patient, if there is no effective treatment (meaning only futile) to offer.
To complicate these questions, please think very hard about what counts as "treatment" and what medical staff can offer to patients even if there isn't curative or interventionist treatment to offer. This will relate to another post on hospice care.
Futile treatment is the treatment that is made for a patient that will not help in any way. I believe that the patient first and foremost gets to make the decision about treatment. The family is next in the decision ladder. I believe that the doctor should be able to give his/her best professional opinion, but not make the decision without the authorization from the patient and family.
ReplyDeletei also believe that the doctor should give their professional opinion, but not have ultimate say in the matter. The patient is the only one who should be able to make this decision and the patients family should have some say but then again, It is the patients battle and if it's to the point where if there is no treatment to cure the patients illness, we should, as bystanders, be there to comfort and respect the patients decisions.
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