Abstract
Professor Boozang provides a legal analysis of proposals to create a futility exception to the requirement that physicians obtain informed consent prior to issuing a "Do Not Resuscitate" order. The futility exception enables a physician to unilaterally decide whether a patient should be resuscitated based upon the physician's determination that resuscitation would be futile. The Article surveys medical studies which indicate that patient self-determination is already too frequently undermined in medical decision-making and argues that a futility exception will further exacerbate the problem. Instead, the Article suggests that requiring physicians to obtain prior informed consent to CPR for hospital inpatients will ameliorate the problems of over-resuscitation and physician exclusion of patients from CPR decision-making.
How to Cite
35 Ariz. L. Rev. 23 (1993)
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