[Ethical questions of withdrawing ECMO treatment]

The study – through the analysis of a case – examines the question of the possibilities of terminating ECMO treatment in the case of a conscious patient who has been receiving ECMO treatment for 60 days due to severe respiratory failure, when the patient does not have a chance to recover from the underlying disease or to undergo a lung transplant, and therefore, ECMO treatment will be necessary until the patient dies. Furthermore, the patient wants ECMO treatment to be continued until death. The paper examines whether it is possible to terminate life-saving/life-sustaining treatment in the case of ECMO or any other intensive care unit treatments. How can the objection or consent of the patient/relative be taken into account? The article examines the role of justice in the allocation of scarce medical resources. In addition to the moral equivalence of withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, it examines the reasons why clinicians disagree with the equivalence thesis. The conclusion of the study is that forgoing further escalation of treatment is generally a more viable option than simply terminating ECMO treatment. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(4): 132–137.