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Task Interruption and Resumption Paradigm for Testing the Activation and Pursuit of an Abstract Thinking Goal
Published on: April 18, 2017
Futility: a concept in search of a definition
Abstract:
The simplistic concepts of futility and autonomy, then, cannot adequately inform society about the kinds of health care services that are appropriately provided to patients. Health care professionals, patients, and their surrogates are left with the arduous but necessary task of communicating effectively and of searching for an equitable resolution to the treatment conflict. With these introductory remarks to help frame the discussion, we invite you to read LMHC's mini-symposium on futility [articles by Steven H. Miles; Betty Dew; Kathryn A. Koch, Bruce W. Myers and Stephen Sandroni; Ann Alpers and Bernard Lo; Edward R. Grant; and Troyen A. Brennan], and to decide for yourself about this relatively new, extremely important, but also highly dangerous, concept of medical futility.
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