The Ethical Dilemma Surrounding Medical Futility An ethical dilemma occurs in situations where there is no absolute answer; either all the options are possibly correct or none of them are. In the healthcare environment, futility is one of the areas where ethical dilemmas may be encountered by the healthcare provider. Futility is used to describe any treatment or intervention that would not produce any meaningful change in the individual’s condition (Sposato, M.P., 2010). There have been ethical discussions and debates surrounding when exactly a treatment becomes futile and who oversees making that decision. For example, are the physicians and their healthcare team in charge or is it the decision in the hands of the client receiving the care …show more content…
This duty is one that is especially important in the discussion of medical futility. Allowing the healthcare provider, the right to oversee the futility of an intervention would be placing the client’s well-being in first. According to Pellegrino, determining the futility of an intervention involves assessing the positives and negatives that comes with its implementation (Grant, S.B, et al., 2014). The aspects surrounding the effects of the intervention is primarily within the physician’s scope of practice. Once the negatives overshadow the positives, the intervention should then be discontinued (Grant, S.B, et al., …show more content…
Utilitarianism is an ethical framework that factors in the consequences of an individual’s actions, and states that the morally correct course of action is the one that produces the “greatest good for the greatest number of people” (Playford, R.C., et al., 2014). This ethical framework aligns with justice and beneficence, and agrees with the position that the healthcare team should be the ones that oversee when exactly interventions become futile and be able to discontinue them. This would be good for the client because they would be switched to an intervention that would be the most approipate for their current situation. It would also be good for the healthcare system because the resources and money that were being used on the futile intervention can now be redistributed among those that require the additional