A new style of end-of-life cases: a patient’s right to demand treatment or a physician’s right to refuse treatment? The futility debate revisited

A classic end-of-life conflict between a physician and a patient concerns a patient's refusal of care. New conflicts have begun to emerge. This time the patient wants treatment while the physician refuses treatment based on a futility judgment. Most of the time the predominance of the physician's view is stressed. In this article this predominance is critically analysed resulting in a re-appraisal of the patient's will.

Jaar van publicatie:2012

Trefwoorden:end-of-life; medical futility, advance directives, surrogate decision making, health care costs