title: Legal briefing: futile or non-beneficial treatment.
abstract: This issue's "Legal Briefing" column covers recent legal developments involving futile or non-beneficial medical treatment. This topic has been the subject of recent articles in JCE. Indeed, it was the subject of a "Legal Briefing" in fall 2009. Accordingly, this column focuses on legal developments from the past two years. These developments are usefully grouped into the following 11 categories: 1. Texas Advance Directives Act, 2. Ontario Consent and Capacity Board, 3. Surrogate selection, 4. Ex post cases for damages, 5. Ex ante cases for injunctions, 6. Coercion and duress, 7. Assent and transparency, 8. Brain-death cases, 9. Criminal and administrative sanctions, 10. Conscientious objection, 11. Penalties for providing futile treatment.
authors.affiliation: Health Law Institute, Widener University School of Law, Wilmington, Deleware, USA. tmpope@widener.edu
authors.forename: Thaddeus Mason
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Pope
mesh_terms: D016223:Advance Directives / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002170:Canada; D028741:Ethics Committees, Clinical; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D018447:Medical Futility / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009864:Ontario; D013781:Texas; D020458:Third-Party Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures / Q000941:ethics; D028761:Withholding Treatment / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*