A physician recently asked how to respond in the case of an 87-year-old patient with advanced Alzheimer's disease, who was unable to swallow or tolerate a nasogastric tube, when the family insisted a gastrostomy tube be ...

...Much of the resistance to the notion of futility, we believe, derives from the fear that it will serve as a masquerade for less defensible motivations. For example, will its acceptance revive discarded abuses of medical ...

Patient autonomy is the cornerstone of our medical ethics. Given this commitment to autonomy, proxy decisions will always strike us as problematic: it is always more difficult to ensure that the wishes of the patient ...

The questions of changes in the human genetic program have been debated by world legislatures, churches, and scientific communities. Papal teachings emphasize a global respect for each patient and the sacred dignity of all ...

In this paper, we examine in closer detail the ethical implications of medical futility. Section one introduces an illustrative case involving a clearly futile medical treatment. Section two outlines three contrasting positions ...