Judging who should live: Schneiderman and Jecker on the duty not to treat

Authors
Citation
W. Harper, Judging who should live: Schneiderman and Jecker on the duty not to treat, J MED PHIL, 23(5), 1998, pp. 500-515
Citations number
11
Categorie Soggetti
Public Health & Health Care Science
Journal title
JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND PHILOSOPHY
ISSN journal
03605310 → ACNP
Volume
23
Issue
5
Year of publication
1998
Pages
500 - 515
Database
ISI
SICI code
0360-5310(199808)23:5<500:JWSLSA>2.0.ZU;2-V
Abstract
In this paper, I consider the thesis advanced by Lawrence J. Schneiderman a nd Nancy S. Jecker that physicians should be forbidden from offering futile treatments to patients. I distinguish between a version of this thesis tha t is trivially true and Schneiderman and Jecker's more substantive version of the thesis. I find that their positive arguments for their thesis are un successful, and sometimes quite misleading. I advance an argument against t heir thesis, and find that, on balance, their thesis should be rejected. I briefly argue that a resolution of the debate about medical futility will r equire addressing deeper issues about value.