This paper questions the relevance of distinguishing acts and omissions in moral argument.
It responds to an article by McLachlan, published in this issue of the Journal of Medical …

Advance directives are intended to preserve patients' ability to influence decisions about the
medical care they receive when illness or injury deprives them of the capacity to make …

Partly because physicians can “never say never,” partly because of the seduction of modern
technology, and partly out of misplaced fear of litigation, physicians have increasingly shown …

During an illness requiring brief use of life-sustaining therapy (LST), patients and surrogates
sometimes feel that LST must be withdrawn before it becomes unnecessary to avoid later …

In the debate surrounding the morality and legality of the practices of physician-assisted
death and euthanasia, a common logical argument regularly employed against these …

This paper reframes the futility debate, moving away from the question “Who decides when
to end what is considered to be a medically inappropriate or futile treatment?” and toward …

Withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining therapies is ethical and medically appropriate in
some circumstances. This article summarizes the American Medical Association's Education …

Major organizations of health care professionals make careful distinctions when discussing
ethics in end-of-life care (AGS 1998; AMA 1991; ANA 1992). 2 The American Medical …

This issue's “Legal Briefing” column covers recent legal developments involving futile or non-
beneficial medical treatment. This topic has been the subject of recent articles in JCE …

In a perfect world, acting conscientiously would always be compatible with acting in
conformity with the conscience. But ours is not a perfect world; in the context of healthcare …