RELATIVE TREATMENT FUTILITY

Current emphasis on patient autonomy in medical decision making reflec ts society's fundamental respect for the individual. However, the prin ciple of autonomy must be exercised within medically accepted and avai lable options. Institutional determination of the relative futility of a treatment would help define the duty of a physician to offer that t reatment. Physicians would therefore be under no obligation to obtain consent for a do-not-resuscitate order once the patient's condition wa s within the institutionally defined determination of futility of trea tment. Further research and documentation of statistics are essential elements in the development of a knowledge base for determining relati ve treatment futility.