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The Brutal but Utile Truth of “Futile”
- Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 60, Number 3, Summer 2017
- pp. 340-344
- 10.1353/pbm.2018.0007
- Article
- Additional Information
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Though futility may be difficult to consensually define as a description of the limits of medicine, the term futility as it applies to quantitative futility is useful and apt. The term conveys a sometimes harsh but truthful reality for patients and families. When talking with patients and families, conveying the concept of futility might be more compassionately expressed as an inability to provide a curative medical benefit to the patient, with a concomitant commitment to provide comfort care. The ultimate arbiter of quantitative futility should be the medical profession.