Easing the Burden of Decisionmaking in Futile Situations

Abstract

The prolongation of human life, that is devoid of quality, creates significant financial and emotional burdens for patients, families, medical care providers, and society. Healthcare providers acknowledge that there are points in the decisionmaking process when these burdens may be avoided. The purpose of this article is to present an approach to decisionmaking that avoids the use of futile medical treatment and lightens end-of-life burden for patients and family members. I have developed Allow Natural Death (AND), a directive approach to end-of-life decisionmaking. AND is to be used when there is a high degree of certainty about the medical futility of treatment.