Medical Futility Blog

Here is a  rehearsal video of my presentation at ISDM 2026 -  Legal Mandates for SDM & PDAs: U.S. Policy & Implementation. I argue ...

This NPR stor y covers the recently revived interest in death by organ donation. This would clearly violated the dead donor rule - in at le...

In late 2025, the Society of Critical Care Medicine  issued "Clinical Practice Guidelines on Adult End-of-Life Care in the ICU." ...

Texas Right to Life has intervened in many NBT/PIT conflicts. This intervention is appropriate because questions about whether to continue l...

I am participating, this week, in the International Shared Decision Making Conference ( ISDM ) at Dartmouth College. Here are handout slides...

This week, the Wall Street Journal notes that dementia directives are gaining popularity to detail medical and end-of-life care wishes for ...

The past few weeks have seen several court conflicts regarding determination of death by neurologic criteria (brain death). But even determi...

Robb Miller, former  Executive Director of End of Life Washington,  summarizes  some of our recent work on four food and fluid based end-of-...

The recent court battle regarding Annelise Camp concerned whether Texas Children's could perform testing without parental consent. Beca...

I'm delighted to present on proposed UAGA amendments at the NYU Transplant Ethics and Policy Conference. Register here . 

Join the University of Minnesota for the next in its Unpacking Bedside Bioethics series on August 18, 2026. Jason Wasserman presents ...

In February 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a disability discrimination case may proceed where Texas provid...

More than 60 million individuals are living with dementia. Many of them want to avoid living into the later stages of dementia. But the mos...

In this video episode of Call a Death Doula, Pamela Rathbun speaks with North Texas death doula Melissa Wood about hospice, end-of-life p...

Join us at ASBH 2026 for the 16th annual "Legal Update 2026: Top 10 Legal Developments in Bioethics and Public Health." We are sc...

The ACP Hospitalist covers our recent pro/con plenary session  on dementia VSED advance directives  at the American Geriatrics Society Ann...

The next International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation ( ICCEC 2027 ) will be in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia).  This is a ...

Because the courts enjoined Texas Children's Hospital from performing brain death testing, we cannot say that Annelise Camp is dead. But...

If you are in Minnesota in September, have an open mind and consider points from the opposition. Bobby Schindler will be speaking at this HA...

Here is a new brief  primer video on Futility and Medically Inappropriate Treatment from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. ...