Good (but Hollow) Advice from the Journal of Oncology Practice
Posted Sep 22 2008 6:17am
In the March 2008 issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP), Mary S. McCabe, RN, MA, of Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center, and ASCO staff member Courtney Storm, JD, MBE, served as co-authors of the oncology ethics vignette, “When Doctors Disagree about Medical Futility.” The article illustrates the challenges of addressing critical end-of-life decisions with patients with terminal cancer.
McCabe explains "Although patients and families can request futile treatments at the end of life, it does not mean that the physician is obligated to provide these treatments. If the physician thinks a requested treatment is medically futile, he/she (as an independent moral agent) need not provide it against his/her medical judgment."
That is, of course, the position of many professional medical associations. Unfortunately, almost no physicians will actually heed this advice. These associations have generally done little to align this recommendation with the incentives provided by state tort law.
In the March 2008 issue
of the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP), Mary S. McCabe, RN, MA, of Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center, and ASCO staff member Courtney Storm, JD, MBE, served as co-authors of the oncology ethics vignette, “When Doctors Disagree about Medical Futility.” The article illustrates the challenges of addressing critical end-of-life decisions with patients with terminal cancer.
McCabe explains "Although patients and families can request futile treatments at the end of life, it does not mean that the physician is obligated to provide these treatments. If the physician thinks a requested treatment is medically futile, he/she (as an independent moral agent) need not provide it against his/her medical judgment."
That is, of course, the position of many professional medical associations. Unfortunately, almost no physicians will actually heed this advice. These associations have generally done little to align this recommendation with the incentives provided by state tort law.