ReviewJournal of general internal medicine2004
When is medical treatment futile? A guide for students, residents, and physicians.
Review in Journal of general internal medicine, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 113 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assisted death in eating disorders: a systematic review of cases and clinical rationales.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Medical futility and the ethics of continuing treatment: a hermeneutic inquiry into patient and physician perspectives.Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM · 2025Article
- Lay views in Southern France of the acceptability of refusing to provide treatment because of alleged futility.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Futility: A Complex Concept.Structural heart : the journal of the Heart Team · 2024Article
- Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine and Indian Association of Palliative Care Expert Consensus and Position Statements for End-of-life and Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2024Article
- Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for the treatment of respiratory compromise.Indian journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery · 2023Review
- What if some patients are more "important" than others? A possible framework for Covid-19 and other emergency care situations.BMC medical ethics · 2022Article
- Article
- Navigating the Minefield: Managing Refusal of Medical Care in Older Adults with Chronic Symptoms of Mental Illness.Clinical interventions in aging · 2021Article
- Appropriateness of intensive care treatments near the end of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2020Review
- Article
- Association of Perceived Futile or Potentially Inappropriate Care With Burnout and Thoughts of Quitting Among Health-Care Providers.The American journal of hospice & palliative care · 2019Article
- Perils of the Hidden Curriculum: Emotional Labor and "Bad" Pediatric Proxies.The Journal of clinical ethics · 2019Article
- Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Late-Stage Alzheimer's Disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2019Review
- Neurophysiology contributes to outcome prediction after cardiac arrest.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2017Review
- Medical futility and its challenges: a review study.Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine · 2016Review
- Unmet healthcare needs in people with disabilities: comparison with the general population in Korea.Annals of rehabilitation medicine · 2011Article
- Use of unnecessary medications by patients with advanced cancer: cross-sectional survey.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2011Article
- Dying, death and bereavement: a qualitative study of the views of carers of people with heart failure in the UK.BMC palliative care · 2009Article
- Futile medication use in terminally ill cancer patients.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A difficult ethical conundrum in clinical medicine is determining when to withdraw or withhold treatments deemed medically futile. These decisions are particularly complex when physicians have less experience with these discussions, when families and providers disagree about benefits from treatment, and when cultural disparities are involved in misunderstandings. This paper elucidates the concept of "medical futility," demonstrates the application of futility to practical patient care decisions, and suggests means for physicians to negotiate transitions from aggressive treatment to comfort care with patients and their families. Ultimately, respect of persons and beneficent approaches can lead to ethically and morally viable solutions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.