WHEN FAMILIES REQUEST THAT EVERYTHING POSSIBLE BE DONE

The paper explores the ethical and psychological issues that arise whe n family members request that ''everything possible'' be done for a pa rticular patient. The paper first illustrates this phenomenon by revie wing the well known case of Helga Wanglie. We proceed to argue that in Wanglie and similar cases family members may request futile treatment s as a means of conveying that (1) the loss of the patient is tantamou nt to losing a part of themselves; (2) the patient should not be aband oned or disvalued in any way; or (3) the patient is owed special oblig ations by virtue of the special relationship in which the family and t he patient stand. We maintain that families can best express these imp ortant messages by caring for patients, rather than by making requests for futile interventions. Likewise, when life-sustaining measures are futile, health providers can best fulfill their professional obligati ons by assuring patients' dignity and comfort, rather than by applying futile interventions.