Wrong Medicine: Doctors, Patients, and Futile Treatment

Lawrence J. Schneiderman, Nancy S. Jecker

JHU Press, Apr 15, 2011 - Medical - 248 pages

Too often, patients in American hospitals are subjected to painful, expensive, and futile treatments because of a physician’s notion of medical duty or a family’s demands. Lawrence J. Schneiderman and Nancy S. Jecker renew their call for common sense and realistic expectations in medicine in this revised and updated edition of Wrong Medicine.

Written by a physician and a philosopher—both internationally recognized experts in medical ethics—Wrong Medicine addresses key topics that have occupied the media and the courts for the past several decades, including the wrenching Terry Schiavo case. The book combines clear descriptions of ethical principles with real clinical stories to discuss the medical, legal, and political issues that confront doctors today as they seek to provide the best medical care to critically ill patients.

The authors have added two chapters that outline theoretical, legislative, judicial, and clinical developments since the first edition. Based on the latest empirical research, Wrong Medicine continues to guide a broad range of health care professionals through the challenges of providing humane end-of-life care.

Contents

• 1 Are Doctors Supposed to Be Doing This?: 1
• 2 Why It Is Hard to Say No: 23
• 3 Why We Must Say No: 37
• 4 Families Who Say Do Everything: 57
• 5 Futility and Rationing: 74
• 6 Medical Futility in a Litigious Society: 89
• 7 Ethical Implications of Medical Futility: 104
• For Patients: 131
• For Health Professionals: 144
• Medical Futility: 167
• Where Do We Stand Now?: 183
• Notes: 195
• Index: 221

About the author

Lawrence J. Schneiderman, M.D., is an emeritus professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego. Nancy S. Jecker, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities and an adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy and School of Law at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Wrong Medicine: Doctors, Patients, and Futile Treatment; Wrong Medicine
• Authors: Lawrence J. Schneiderman, Nancy S. Jecker
• Edition: 2, revised
• Publisher: JHU Press, 2011
• ISBN: 1421401088, 9781421401089
• Length: 248 pages
• Subjects: Medical / Ethics