Forthcoming New Primer on Medical Futility

I just got the page proofs for my chapter on “Medical Futility," chapter 12, in Guidance for Hospital Ethics Committees forthcoming from Cambridge University Press (D. Micah Hester and Toby Schonfeld, editors).  My chapter, like the rest of the volume, is written to an audience of new, “inexperienced” members of an ethics committee.  This book will surely prove to be even more valuable than Hester's last guide for hospital ethics committees.  After reading my  chapter, the reader will be able to:

1. Describe the three main definitions of “medical futility.”


2.  Identify the key factors at the heart of disagreements between surrogates and providers concerning whether a treatment is beneficial.


3. Distinguish six strategies that ethics committees can use to prevent and to resolve medical futility disputes.