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Autonomy and futility.

W H Bruening1

  • 1Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne, IN 46805.

HEC Forum : an Interdisciplinary Journal on Hospitals' Ethical and Legal Issues
|December 10, 1991
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) grants patients autonomy in medical decisions. However, healthcare professionals may ethically withhold futile treatments, even against patient or surrogate wishes, balancing autonomy with medical ethics.

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Area of Science:

  • Bioethics
  • Medical Law

Background:

  • The Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) upholds a patient's legal right to accept or refuse medical treatment.
  • A conflict arises when patient autonomy clashes with healthcare professionals' ethical obligations regarding medically futile treatments.

Observation:

  • This case examines the ethical dilemma where healthcare providers deem treatments futile, yet patients or surrogates demand their continuation.
  • The PSDA's application becomes complex when medical futility is a central concern.

Findings:

  • Patient autonomy is not an absolute moral right.
  • Healthcare professionals are ethically permitted, and sometimes required, to withdraw or withhold futile treatments.

Implications:

  • This challenges the absolute interpretation of patient autonomy in medical decision-making.
Keywords:
Death and Euthanasia

Related Experiment Videos

  • It provides ethical justification for healthcare professionals to override patient or surrogate demands for futile interventions.