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Are there Limits to Oncology Care? (Futility)

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Ethical Issues in Cancer Patient Care

Part of the book series: Cancer Treatment and Research ((CTAR,volume 140))

Abstract

Just when it looked like we had finally decided that patients were in charge, doctors and patients are again at odds over just “whose life it is anyway.” Not long ago it was the patients and their families taking the doctors and their hospitals to court for the right to have unwanted life support withdrawn.1 Now it seems that the tables have turned. It is the doctors and their hospitals who are going to court2,3,4,5,6 to “deal... with families who demand inappropriate medical treatment for moribund patients.”7

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Authors
  1. Gary R. Shapiro M.D.
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Peter Angelos M.D., Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Surgery, Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities) (Assistant Professor of Surgery, Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities)

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Shapiro, G.R. (2000). Are there Limits to Oncology Care? (Futility). In: Angelos, P. (eds) Ethical Issues in Cancer Patient Care. Cancer Treatment and Research, vol 140. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3044-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3044-9_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-3046-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-3044-9

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