Futile treatment usually causes a lot of dilemma between the medical practitioners and the families of the patients involved. These incidences arise in cases where both parties cannot agree on whether to keep on providing medical treatment to the patients or terminate it so as to relieve the patients off the severe suffering. According to Li (2012) futile treatment may be described as continuous provision of medical treatment and care to patients with incurable and lethal illnesses such as malignant cancer. This may be as a result upon family request who wants to ensure their loved ones are able to last as long as it may cost them. It has been suggested by physicians that continued provision of futile treatment to those patients who have been overmastered by their diseases be terminated (Li, 2012). However medical practitioners are faced with dilemmas on whether to continue providing futile treatments to patients whom are likely to recover from these lethal diseases. This calls for detailed consultations from families of the patients involved as well as the higher levels of the medical practitioners on whether to put a stop to the suffering of the patient’s life at stake.
At this point, the families of the patients involved must clearly state the goals for the futile treatment. Some families may decide to have their loved ones continue receiving the treatment just to avoid bodily deaths of which this can be agreed on and the process of treatment may be continued (Purtilo & Doherty, 2016). Conflict arises whereby the families want their loved ones to continue receiving futile treatments with the hope that the patients will recover and gain back their health status whereby it is not guaranteed. Therefore it calls for use of standard of care as well as the best interests of the patients to help end these dilemmas on whether to end these lives or not (Purtilo & Doherty, 2016).
References
Li, M. (2012). Dealing with futile treatment: A medical student’s perspective.AMSJ, 3(2), 8-60.
Purtilo, R. B., & Doherty, R. F. (2016). Ethical dimensions in the health professions (5th ed.). Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
