Futility Policies

I have stated before that there is something creepy about the enthusiasm with which the "right to die" crowd is pursuing their agenda. Nurse Nancy Valko effectively puts her finger on it

Most people assume that refusing treatment, like assisted suicide (the other goal of the "right to die" movement), means choice and control.

But a funny thing happened on the way to this supposed "right to die" nirvana.

Some families and patients did not "get with the program" and insisted that medical treatment be continued for themselves or their loved ones despite a "hopeless" prognosis and the recommendations of doctors and/or ethicists to stop treatment.

She goes on to explain why there's good reason to stay away from a doctor or ethicist in full god-complex mode:

Many doctors and ethicists were appalled that their expertise would be challenged and they theorized that such families or patients were unrealistic, "in denial" about the prognosis or were mired in dysfunctional family relationships. (In contrast, families who agree to withdraw treatment are almost always referred to as "loving" and their motives are spared such scrutiny.)

Even more frightening than an appalled ethicist, it seems that the medical community has developed ways to justify withholding care from your loved one no matter what.

"Proper stewardship of these resources entails not wasting them on treatments that are futile and inappropriate. They must be rationally allocated; to waste them is ethically irresponsible and morally objectionable."

In other words, if the docs can find someone else they'd rather have using your respirator (someone with better insurance, maybe?), you're out of luck and off to meet your reward. Your "right to die" has been morphed into your obligation to die for the sake of proper stewardship of resources. Ms. Valco has this neat summation:

"Ironically, the 'right to die' movement was founded on the premise that patients and/or families are the best judges of when it is time to die. Now, however, we are being told that doctors and/or ethicists are really the best judges of when we should die."

No wonder those "right to die" people strike me as creepy. They really are.

Hat tip: Hit and Run