JAMA & ARCHIVES
Arch Fam Med
SEARCH
GO TO ADVANCED SEARCH
HOME  PAST ISSUES  TOPIC COLLECTIONS  CME  PHYSICIAN JOBS  CONTACT US  HELP
Institution: CLOCKSS  | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In
  Vol. 4 No. 4, April 1995 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  Special Article
 This Article
 •References
 •Full text PDF
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal

When Everything Is Too Much

Quantitative Approaches to the Issue of Futility

Mark H. Ebell, MD

Arch Fam Med. 1995;4(4):352-356.


Abstract

A obligation to provide futile care, there is no consensus, of which I am aware, regarding a definition of futility. Two quantitative approaches to determining futility are proposed, neither of which involves financial costs. First, based on the number of consecutive failures of an intervention, it is possible to calculate the probability of success for the next attempted treatment. The second method uses quality-adjusted life years to balance the burden and benefit of a specific treatment and to determine the probability of success beneath which the treatment is futile. When applied to the use of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation in patients with metastatic cancer, both of these methods confirm the futility of this intervention.



Author Affiliations

From the Department of Family Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

A Staff Dialogue on Do Not Resuscitate Orders: Psychosocial Issues Faced by Patients, Their Families, and Caregivers
O'Shea et al.
The Oncologist 2002;7:36-42.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Conditions and consequences of medical futility--from a literature review to a clinical model
Lofmark and Nilstun
J. Med. Ethics 2002;28:115-119.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Lessons From Quantifying Futility
Green
Arch Fam Med 1995;4:308-309.
ABSTRACT  




HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | PHYSICIAN JOBS | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1995 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.