title: Medical futility and the social context.
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.
authors.affiliation: Utica College of Syracuse University, New York, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Halliday
mesh_terms: D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D032921:Consensus; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D018447:Medical Futility; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010684:Philosophy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D035621:Secularism; D012945:Social Values; D026712:Value of Life; D028761:Withholding Treatment