Medical Futility Blog

ICEL5 is shaping up to be a global gathering of 300+ experts from 15 countries, featuring a vibrant, multidisciplinary program with more tha...

Join me at SCCM on Monday at 2:30 to discuss brain death (W Pre-function 3rd Fl ).   Join me at SCCM on Tuesday at 11:00 to discuss decisi...

In a long series of articles starting in 2007 , I argued that one problem with laws that grant legal immunity for unilaterally withholding o...

National Healthcare Decisions Day is one month from today. So, take 4 minutes to watch one of the greatest videos on the importance of adva...

Here is a musical patient safety reminder: An advance directive does  not   automatically mean the patient is DNR. Read the advance directi...

I'm delighted to be a part of this review of the Hawaii Our Care Our Choice Act.  

John Mandrola makes a bold statement in  this Medscape piece .  "CPR is a medical intervention. It was designed to be used in specific ...

It was a pleasure to discuss clinical, ethical, and legal aspects of brain death contestation on this PNCC webinar today. A video will be po...

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed the death sentence for William George Davis.  Davis was a cardiovascular intensive care un...

Onondaga Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, in Minoa New York, was recently placed on a list of the nation's worst nursing homes. H...

I offered brief testimony  (about 90 minutes in) yesterday to the Maryland House of Delegates Health Committee on H.B. 1323, which would au...

POLST programs are working as intended according to a new  study in JAMDA . They help assure value congruent care.  Results suggest continue...

The University of Colorado is presenting an all-day event on April 27, 2026: "Underexplored Ethical Issues at the End of Life." Th...

A new study in JAMA Oncology shows that "fewer than 1 in 10 older adults with advanced cancer participating ... prioritizes extending ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that a disability discrimination case may proceed where Texas providers withheld ...

In the latest in a long line of consistent and predictable cases, the UK High Court of Justice has ruled that clinicians may withdraw life-...

In  this short video , Art Caplan discusses the ethical issues involved in determining whether to follow a patient's advance directive o...

THE PITT continues to illustrate the hot health law and bioethics issues of the day. In the latest episode (S2 E9), the attending physician...

The UK Court of Appeal has just released a significant appellate judgment in  Townsend v Epsom & Helier University Hospitals NHS Trus t....

Suppose you have an advance directive declining life-sustaining treatment under certain conditions. And suppose that you also elected to be ...