The authors of this Sounding Board article discuss how the new approach to assessment of biomedical technologies that incorporates considerations of effectiveness, patient preferences, and costs, differs from the old ...

The authors propose a mathematical model for deciding appropriate use of life-sustaining care, using as an example out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation for chronically ill older persons. Incorporating determinations of ...

It has been suggested that physicians be allowed to withhold resuscitation without seeking patient consent where the procedure would be a futile intervention. These proposals have been criticized on the grounds that such ...