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Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment Ethical, Medical, Deciding to Forego and Legal Issues in Life-Sustaining Treatment Decisions Treatment " 00'1,8,,0,,00 ",,~qfoITgbf!c?:'r,o§go AcJO'Oa DoO °0 oood},;o" 0 0 ';:on'O 0000000 0 "'60 ,,'0 J;J~~_<;'a a" ,,0 "~o'bogo;e, O8~ OOQoQo(l O(!OO(l:aJ. l 8cf''' o8~. a () o~"Q DO°,;tb""~ ~CI 00 oOq:;oglJ' d'c£~~Qga °80'W- CIao Q ~o 0$" ffiH' ~~~ ."!'k'ftp: ~~~(ffia 0~~00°0 ~oo rBe0° °oCU <>80 0°"0° aq,00 00 President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research Library of Congress card number 83-600503 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office Washington. D.C. 20402 Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment A Report on the Ethical, Medical, and Legal Issues in Treatment Decisions March 1983 President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research Morris B. Abram, M.A., J.D., LLD., Chairman, New York, N.Y. H. Thomas Ballantine, M.D., Daher B. Rahi, D.O. M.S., D.Sc. St. Clair Shores, Michigan Harvard Medical School Seymour Siegel, D.H.L. George R. Dunlop, M.D. Jewish Theological University of Massachusetts Seminary of America, New York Bruce K. Jacobson, M.D. ' Lynda Smith, B.S. Southwestern Medical School Colorado Springs, Colorado John Moran, B.S. J. Kay Toma, M.D. Houston, Texas Bell, California Arno G. Motulsky, M.D. Charles J. Walker, M.D. University of Washington Nashville, Tennessee Staff Alexander M. Capron, LL.B., Executive Director Deputy Director Administrative Officer Barbara Mishkin, M.A., J.D. Anne Wilburn Assistant Directors Editor Joanne Lynn, M.D.. M.A. Linda Starke Alan Meisel, J.D. Support Staff Professional Staff Florence Chertok Mary Ann Baily, Ph.D. Gretchen Erhardt Dan Brock, Ph.D. Ruth Morris Allen Buchanan, Ph.D. Clara Pittman Andrew Burness, M.B.A. Kevin Powers Kathryn Kelly, M.S.W. Nancy Watson Susan Morgan President's Commission Marian Osterweis, Ph.D. Common wealth Fellows and Renie Schapiro, M.P.H. Student Interns Jeffrey Stryker Susan Formaker (1982) Kenneth Kim (1982) Research Assistant Katherine Locke Eddie Lockard (1982) Stephen Massey (1982) Consultants Henry Richardson (1981) Bradford H. Gray, Ph.D. Lisa Rovin (1982) John J. Paris, S.J. William C. Thompson (1981) Dorothy Vawter Mindy Werner (1982) President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research Suite 555, 2000 K Street N.W., Washington. DC 20006 (202) 653 -8051 March 21, 1983 The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: On behalf of the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicin and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, I am pleased to transmit our Report on Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment. This subject was not part of our original legislative mandate but was added as a natural outgrowth of our studies on informed consent, the "definition" of death, and access to health care and because it seemed to us to involve some of the most important and troubling ethical and legal questions in modern medicine. Although our study has done nothing to decrease our estimation of the importance of this subject to physicians, patients, and their families, we have concluded that the cases that involve true ethical difficulties are many fewer than commonly believed and that the perception of difficulties occurs primarily because of misunderstandings about the dictates of law and ethics. Neither criminal nor civil law precludes health care practitioners or their patients and relatives from reaching ethically and medically appropriate decisions about when to engage in or to forego efforts to sustain the lives of dying patients. Applying the findings of our earlier study on informed consent, we have concluded that the authority of competent, informed patients to decide about their health care encompasses the decision to forego treatment and allow death to occur. We note, however, that all patients, including those who reject various forms of life-support, should receive other appropriate medical care to preserve their dignity and minimize suffering to the greatest extent possible. When patients are incompetent to make their own decisions, others must act on their behalf. The Commission found that existing legal procedures can be adapted for the purpose of allowing people while competent to designate someone to act in their stead and to express their wishes about treatment. When it is not possible to know what a particular patient would have chosen-as, for example, with seriously ill infants--those who make the choices should attempt to serve the patient's best interests, judged from the patient's vantage point. To ensure that the interests of incompetent patients are protected, the Commission urges that health care institutions develop and utilize methods of internal review that will permit all relevant issues to be explored and all opinions to be heard and that will improve communi- cation among the full treatment team and patients' family members. W e are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to improving public understanding of this vital topic. Respectfully, n Morris B. Abram Chairman President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research Suite 555, 2000 K Street, N..W.., Washington, DC 20006 (202) 653 -8051 March 21, 1983 The Honorable George Bush President United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Mr. President: On behalf of the Resident's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, I am pleased to transmit our Report on Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment. This subject was not part of our original legislative mandate but was added as a natural outgrowth of our studies on informed consent, the "definition" of death, and access to health care and because it seemed to us to involve some of the most important and troubling ethical and legal questions in modern medicine. Although our study has done nothing to decrease our estimation of the importance of this subject to physicians, patients, and their families, we have concluded that the cases that involve true ethical difficulties are many fever than commonly belleved and that the perception of difficulties occurs primarily because of misunderstardings about the dictates of law and ethics. Neither criminal nor civil law precludes health care practitioners or their patients and relatives from reaching ethically and medically appropriate decisions about when to engage in or to forego efforts to sustain the lives of dying patients. Applying the findings of our earlier study on informed consent, we have concluded that the authority of competent, informed patients to decide about their health care encompasses the decision to forego treatment and allow death to occur. We note, however, that all patients, including those who reject various forms of llfe-support, should receive other appropriate medical care to preserve their dignity and minimize suffering to the greatest extent possible. When patients are incanpetent to make their own decisions, others must act on their behalf. The Commision found that existing legal procedures can be adapted for the purpose of allowing people while competent to designate someone to act in their stead and to express their wishes about treatment. When it is not possible to know what a particular patient would have chosen--as, for example, with seriously ill infants--those who make the choices should attempt to serve the patient's best interests, judged from the patient's vantage point. To ensure that the interests of incompetent patients are protected, the Commission urges that health care institutions develop and utilize methods of internal review that will permit all relevant issues to be explored and all opinions to be heard and that will improve communi- cation among the full treatment team and patients' family members. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to improving public understanding of this vital topic. Respectfully, Morris B. Abram Chairman President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research Suite 555, 2000 K Street, N.W., Washington, DD 20006 (202) 653-8051 March 21, 1983 The Honorable Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Mr. Speaker: On behalf of the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medidne and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, I am pleased to transmit our Report on Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment. This subject was not part of our original legislative mandate but was added as a natural outgrowth of our studies on informed consent, the "definition" of death, and access to health care and because it seemed to us to involve some of the most important and troubllng ethical and legal questions in modern medicine. Although our study has done nothing to decrease our estimation of the importance of this subject to physicians, patients, and their families, we have concluded that the cases that involve true ethical difficulties are many fewer than commonly believed and that the perception of difficulties occurs primarily because of misunderstandings about the dictates of law and ethics. Neither criminal nor civil law precludes health care practitioners or their patients and relatives from reaching ethically and medically appropriate dedsions about when to engage in or to forego efforts to sustain the live of dying patients. Applying the findings of our earlier study on informed consent, we have concluded that the authority of competent, informed patients to decide about their health care encompasses the decision to forego treatment and allow death to occur.
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