Futility has no utility in resuscitation medicine

"Futility" is a word which means the absence of benefit. It has been used t o describe an absence of utility in resuscitation endeavours but it fails t o do this. Futility does not consider the harms of resuscitation and we sho uld consider the balance of benefit and harm that results from our resuscit ation endeavours. If a resuscitation is futile then arty harm that ensues w ill bring about an unfavourable benefit/harm balance. However even if the e ndeavour is not futile, by any definition, the benefit/harm balance may sti ll be unfavourable if the harms that ensue are great. It is unlikely that e w will ever achieve it consensus definition of futility and certainly not o ne that is applicable to every Patient undergoing resuscitation. In the mea ntime our use of the term "futile", in the mistaken belief that it tells us whether if is worth resuscitating or not, has no utility as it will never succeed in telling Its this. Furthermore we risk causing offence by use of the term and we risk harming the patient's autonomy by using futility as an overriding force. Instead we should consider the utility of our endeavours ,for which an assessment of the harms of resuscitation should be added to o ur considerations of its benefit. This balance of benefit and harm should t hen be evaluated as best it can be from the patient's perspective. The word s futile and futility should be abandoned by resuscitationists.