Tim Quill on "Near-Futile" Treatment

In the October 2014 edition of Medical Ethics Advisor, Timothy Quill notes that when treatments might possibly help a little and they have some very small potential utility, patients can typically get access to these.



This may change down the road.  "But we aren't even close to being there as a profession or as a society."  Bioethicists can fully inform the involved parties of the risks, benefits, and limitations of a near-futile treatment.  "But if the patient or family really wants a treatment and there is some utility, ultimately they are going to get it."