Health Care: How Long Should We Wait for a Miracle?

U.C. Davis Medical Professor Michael Wilkes writes about medical miracles in today's Sacramento Bee.



Dr. Wilkes notes that 76 percent of Americans believe in miracles.  But he asks: "do we build a health care system that plans for miracles?  How much time and money should we invest in waiting for a medical miracle to occur at the bedside?"  "When a person is in intensive care and the only treatments are those considered “medically futile,” should families be allowed to insist that hospitals continue to provide all life-sustaining therapies?"



Wilkes concludes his op-ed:  "With a new health care system on the horizon, we need to engage in public debates around futility and miracles and hope we can arrive at some clear guidelines around waiting for miracles."