Futile Care for the Terminally Ill: It May Be Legal But Is It Ethical or Morally Justifiable?

Medical futility is a very difficult, if not impossible term to define precisely. It all resides in the eye of the beholder. If a patient with terminal, incurable non-reversible Alzheimer’s disease is close to the end, the physicians and other caregivers may feel it is futile to hydrate or nourish this patient and may recommend withholding or withdrawing the feeding tube and IV hydration. The medical literature has conflicting reports about whether or not starvation and/or dehydration makes a terminally ill dying patient more comfortable or less comfortable. If such a patient suffers a cardiopulmonary arrest, the physicians and other medical staff will probably feel that it is futile or fruitless to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation measures since they would serve no useful purpose. On the other hand the family may fell that such attempts are worthwhile and not fruitless. If blood circulation and respiration, albeit with mechanical assistance can be reestablished even for a few minutes or more, the patient’s next of kin may feel that to be a worthwhile result. They can spend a little more time with their loved one before the final irreversible terminal event occurs.