Medical futility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Medical futility - Essay Example As a physician am not obliged to offer to a patient medication that I know will only aggreviate their condition. Futile interventions tend to increase the patient’s pain instead of reducing it. Medicine has come of age, especially in the American society where the role played by the patient is both important and inclusive. Even though patients have a right to make a choice or even demand that the acceptable treatment be given to them, it does not expresslly provide that their wish be granted. A physician is only obliged to offer treatment that conforms to the professional guidelines. Many at times the decision is made based on the personal preference of the patient. A patient may decide that a particular outcome is not worth striving for and therefore reject or demand tratment. As a medical physician I would therefore take it upon my self to explain to the family of the patient about the various medical procudures available and the futility of those procedures. In a loving and compassionate language I would try my best to make them understand the dinamics of such treatment in an effort to help them come to closure with the issue. I may only agree to use some of these interventions to help the patient stay alive if at all there is an important relative who really needs to see the patient alive at least for the last time. Carefull choice of words comes in handy here especially when trying to make the family and friends to realize that the decision has nothing to do with the availability or cost of the necessary medical equipment for the futile procedure. According to medical ethics; the principle of beneficience states that every medical practioner must endevour to do well to the patient whenever possible, including when the most beneficial thing to do is â€Å"nothing†. It’s therefore important to have all parties realize that it’s for the best interest of the patient that nothing is done. That’s where statements