While the concept of medical futility has existed for as long as medicine has been practiced, it remains a controversial issue that has become more clouded as medicine has advanced. This thesis will explore futility in the most technologically rich and emotionally charged of settings, the intensive care unit. The complex interactions of biology, ethics and the law, with their competing and sometimes conflicting interests will be explored. Disputes between patients, families and health care workers over life-sustaining interventions occur most often in the ICU, and the factors that influence this dynamic, such as lack of communication, time constraints, media-driven misconceptions and value-conflicts, will be examined. Attempts to address futility through advance health directives and conflict resolution policies will be critiqued. But most importantly, this thesis will explain, by appealing to the proper goals of medicine, why limitations should be placed on end-of-life care, and why physicians have an important role to play in making these determinations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.78243 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Bandrauk, Natalie |
| Contributors | Glannon, Walter (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Division of Experimental Medicine.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001974755, proquestno: AAIMQ88151, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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