Medical Futility: The Evaluation of Life-Sustaining Intervention
Abstract
Key Words: Book Reviews The newest arrivals to heaven observe a kindly old gentleman with a stethoscope. They ask who he is, and they are told "That's God, playing doctor." Beneath the groans lies the fundamental belief that weaves through the collected essays in Medical Futilitythat is, we as a society are uncomfortable with the notion that anyone whose specialized training and license confers the ability to prolong or shorten life might be the final arbiter of an individual's lifespan. Since the early 1970s, the philosophical debate about end-of-life issues has exploded into the public arena. Initially, Karen Ann Quinlan and Nancy Cruzan became household names as we begged the medical establishment to acknowledge the futility of using technology merely to extend lives that some would deem worthless. Yet in a relatively short span of years, according to this informative, multidisciplinary volume, the medical establishment has become so comfortable with this application of the concept of futility that the preponderance of petitioners over the last decade, notably Wanglie and Baby K, have insisted on prolongation of life over the futility-based objections of their physicians. Now, as Prip and Moretti note in their excellent legal perspective (Chapter 13), the