Medical Futility in the 19th Century

Nearly 2500 years ago, Hippocrates advised physicians to refuse to treat those who are "overmastered" by their diseases.



Debates over medical futility were especially vigorous between 1987 and 1996.  And they continue to this day.  But I was pleased to discover a new (to me) reference from the 1800s.



Theodor Billroth was a Viennese surgeon, generally regarded as the founding father of modern abdominal surgery.  In 1863, he pubished Allgemeine chirurgische Pathologie und Therapie [General Surgical Pathology and Therapeutics].



Billroth warned:  "We are entitled to operate when there are reasonable chances of success.  To use the knife when these chances are lacking is to prostitute the splendid art of surgery, and to render it suspect among the laity and among one's colleagues."