No Matter What the Health Care system, There will always be tough calls

There is a lot of discussion and debate in this presidential year over American Health Care.

And for once I'm not going there.

Whether we keep the present system or go to a single-payer plan, the issue of Medical Futility will always be with us.

At what point do doctors acquire the right--even the responsibility--to tell the families of intractable patients that they will no longer apply extraordinary measures to prolong a life that is already effectively ended?

What tactics are acceptable for physicians to use in convincing a family to "pull the plug"?

From one of my favorite (but inherently depressing) blogs, Medical Futility, comes this heart-rending case from Georgia, decided yesterday. It's a case in which parents signed a consent form to stop treatment of their two-year-old daughter on the doctor's advice. Later, they sued, arguing that they had been pressured into signing the consent forms.

Take the time to read it, and ask yourself: While I understand the parents' grief, do I really believe the doctors did anything wrong.

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