PHYSICIANS REFUSAL TO PROVIDE LIFE-PROLONGING MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS

Authors
PARIS JJ SCHREIBER MD
Citation
Jj. Paris et Md. Schreiber, PHYSICIANS REFUSAL TO PROVIDE LIFE-PROLONGING MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS, Clinics in perinatology, 23(3), 1996, pp. 563
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Pediatrics,"Obsetric & Gynecology
Journal title
Clinics in perinatology → ACNP
ISSN journal
00955108
Volume
23
Issue
3
Year of publication
1996
Database
ISI
SICI code
0095-5108(1996)23:3<563:PRTPLM>2.0.ZU;2-Y
Abstract
The intense and ongoing debate on physicians' right to refuse requeste d life-prolonging medical interventions highlights one of the emerging problems in modem medicine: the limits, if any, to a patient (or prox y's) claim to requested treatment. How is the physician to respond to requests for treatment believed by the physician to be futile, ineffec tive, or inappropriate? Three cases, Baby L, the extracorporeal membra ne oxygenation (ECMO) baby, and Baby K, help focus the ethical and leg al issues in this debate.