[Must therapy be continued at all costs (author's transl)]

In acknowledging the remarkable progress of medicine, the possible consequential harmful effects should not be overlooked. Judgement should be based on the total welfare of the patient and not on the ease with which technical procedures can be executed. The prolongation of life per se by any means is not the only principal of conduct, especially when it results in extension of the patient's misery. In some situations it may be necessary to renounce any form of treatment from the beginning or to abandon any already in progress. This apparent harshness however does not imply that the terminally ill must be abandoned in his suffering.