Free Republic

Futile Care Theory is bearing down on us now like a…well you pick the cliche`. But it isn’t a joke. If you want treatment, and the bioethics committee of a hospital thinks it is “non beneficial,” your stated desires mean very little.Now the San Diego Medical Association has adopted a futile care policy.  According to the SDMA, patients  “always have the right to refuse treatment.” But it’s a one-way street–and your advance directive can be overruled.  From the new “Model Hospital Policy on Non-Beneficial Treatment and Conflict Resolution”: A healthcare provider or institution is not obligated to comply with...

Precautions and Alternatives From the Editor: This is the second in a series of columns first posted on the Illinois Right to Life Committee's (IRLC) website [http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/] written by Bill Beckman, IRLC's executive director. The RFFM.org re-posting of the column discusses how living wills can cancel out the wishes of patients and loved ones regarding end of life issues. Also, readers can learn how to seek out alternatives to living wills and find ways to ensure their end of life issues are respected and adhered to. Included are examples of how living wills have been used to disregard patients rights....

Two cases of European doctors refusing to treat their patients are cause for concern: Futile Care Theory may be coming to America. A LITTLE NOTICED LITIGATION in the United Kingdom could be a harbinger of medical woes to come here in the United States. Leslie Burke, age 44, is suing for the right to stay alive. Yes, you read right: Burke, who has a terminal neurological disease, is deathly afraid that doctors will refuse to provide him wanted food and water when his condition deteriorates to the point that has to receive nourishment through a feeding tube. Burke' fears are,...