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. 1997 Jun;23(3):148–153. doi: 10.1136/jme.23.3.148

Medical futility and the social context.

R Halliday 1
PMCID: PMC1377340  PMID: 9220326

Abstract

The concept of medical futility has come to be seen in some quarters as a value-neutral trump card when dealing with issues of power and conflicting values in medicine. I argue that this concept is potentially useful, but only in a social context that provides a normative framework for its use. This social context needs to include a broad consensus about the purpose of medicine and the nature of the physician-patient relationship.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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