Futility of Treatment Discussions

The issue of medical futility has taken on progressively greater importance in medical treatment as health care costs have spiraled and new modes of therapy have been developed. Physician and ethicists Daniel Eisenberg notes an interesting development apparent in futility of treatment discussions. He states:

When therapeutic options were the limiting factor in medical treatment, the fact that a treatment was felt to be “futile” had little significance, since economics allowed trying “everything” for every patient. Today, when there are almost limitless therapeutic options, but limited economic resources, society may not be willing to provide “useless” therapies to patients who will not benefit. [53]

There is certainly the potential for the possibility of a dichotomy to occur between expanding therapeutic options and economic limitations!

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53	Daniel Eisenberg, M.D. "Futility of Treatment." Institute for Jewish Medical Ethics: San Francisco. February 15, 2000. 1.

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