Unwanted Life-Sustaining Treatment

Abstract

Brahams reviews two legal actions that may have ramifications for physicians and hospitals administering life prolonging treatment to patients after specific instructions to the contrary. In an action pending in the United States, an elderly patient claims wrongful life and negligence against a hospital whose personnel revived him although his refusal of resuscitation had been recorded on his medical chart. Subsequent treatment exhausted his financial resources, and the hospital could be ordered to reimburse his estate for the cost of post-resuscitation care. In