Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons^™

Futility And The Principle Of Medical Futility: Safeguarding Autonomy And The Prohibition Against Cruel And Unusual Punishment, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

Administering futile medical treatment is tantamount to inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on a patient and an abridgement of his rights of self-determination. It is incumbent upon physicians to recognize that they should accept the imposition of an affirmative legal, professional, moral and ethical duty not to prescribe a modality of treatment that falls clearly within the scope of being considered futile, freakish, or tortious under the provisions of Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. When medical treatment is classified as "futile," it frees the physician from any duty to provide treatment. While most reasonable persons agree with this proposition, much …

Restructuring The Principle Of Medical Futility, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

This essay surveys the need for a clear and objective definition of medical futility. It is urged that once agreement is obtained for structuring operational guidelines for determining futility, a three-tier decisional structure can be developed for testing whether a given treatment falls within the scope of these guidelines.

Under the first tier, the treating physician would be given the primary responsibility for the making the determination to withhold treatment on the grounds of futility. While the physician would be under a duty not to prescribe treatment deemed futile, he would be obliged to inform the patient and his family …