Question

Should patients and their families be required to pay for the treatment that physicians find as medically futile care? And should this determination be made by the insurance company, the government, the patient’s doctor, or some combination thereof?

Answer 1

Medical futility is the term that indicates the medical interventions that do not benefit the patient significantly. It refers to specific intervention, not to the medical process. It can be qualitative or quantitative.

The futility of medical care is hard to determine as such care interventions may be surprisingly better or may deteriorate the patient's condition. However, the medical futility should be avoided by the physician as they know better whether the intervention is medically futile or not. In case the medically futile care is found out, the patients may claim the additional payment. The medically futiliy is more often the choice of the patient in order to gain more benefit which may be less significant with respect to the cost of treatment of intervention.

The futility of medical care is best determined by the physicians or doctors. However, medical insuracnce companies may not pay for medical futility and it puts the burden on the patients family. However, the physicians asks for patients' consent for the medical treatment that could be less significant.