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Article: Prediction of Medical Futility By Nurses vs Doctors.(Clinical report)
- Article from:
- Critical Care Alert
- Article date:
- June 1, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 A Thomson Healthcare Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Prediction of Medical Futility By Nurses vs Doctors
Abstract & Commentary
Synopsis: Utmost caution has to be applied when future quality of life as presumed by nurses and doctors is used as an argument for withholding or withdrawing further treatment.
Source: Frick S, et al. Medical futility: Predicting outcome of intensive care unit patients by nurses and doctorsA prospective, comparative study. Crit Care Med. 2003;31:456-461.
The decision not to provide a useless therapy requires 2 sets of value judgments..sup.1 First, any assertion that a therapy will be useless is a matter of probability, not certainty. Secondly, usefulness and ...