Article    Table of Contents                    Full Text of this article    PDF of this article (PDFs free after 6 months)    Figures/Tables List    Related articles in Annals  Services    Send comment/rapid response letter    Notify a friend about this article    Alert me when this article is cited    Add to Personal Archive    Download to Citation Manager    ACP Search    Get Permissions  Google Scholar    Search for Related Content  Social Bookmarking

What's this?

PubMed

Articles in PubMed by Author:    Fine, R. L.    Mayo, T. Wm.    Related Articles in PubMed    PubMed Citation    PubMed

PERSPECTIVE

Resolution of Futility by Due Process: Early Experience with the Texas Advance Directives Act

Robert L. Fine, MD, and Thomas Wm. Mayo, JD

6 May 2003 | Volume 138 Issue 9 | Pages 743-746

Every U.S. state has developed legal rules to address end-of-life decision making. No law to date has effectively dealt with medical futility—an issue that has engendered significant debate in the medical and legal literature, many court cases, and a formal opinion from the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. In 1999, Texas was the first state to adopt a law regulating end-of-life decisions, providing a legislatively sanctioned, extrajudicial, due process mechanism for resolving medical futility disputes and other end-of-life ethical disagreements. After 2 years of practical experience with this law, data collected at a large tertiary care teaching hospital strongly suggest that the law represents a first step toward practical resolution of this controversial area of modern health care. As such, the law may be of interest to practitioners, patients, and legislators elsewhere.

Author and Article Information

From Baylor Health Care System and Southern Methodist University/Dedman School of Law, Dallas, Texas.

Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.

Requests for Single Reprints: Robert L. Fine, MD, Office of Clinical Ethics, Baylor Health Care System, 3434 Swiss Avenue, Suite 330, Dallas, TX 75204; e-mail, robertf{at}baylorhealth.edu.

Current Author Addresses: Dr. Fine: Office of Clinical Ethics, Baylor Health Care System, 3434 Swiss Avenue, Suite 330, Dallas, TX 75204.

Mr. Mayo: Southern Methodist University/Dedman School of Law, 303 Storey Hall, 3315 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, TX 75275-0116.

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Reddit

Technorati

Twitter

Related articles in Annals:

Letters
Advance Directives, Due Process, and Medical Futility
Jeffrey T. Berger

Annals 2004 140: 402-403. [Full Text]  

Letters
Advance Directives, Due Process, and Medical Futility
Thomas E. Finucane

Annals 2004 140: 403. [Full Text]  

Letters
Advance Directives, Due Process, and Medical Futility
Anne L. Flamm AND Martin L. Smith

Annals 2004 140: 403-404. [Full Text]  

Letters
Advance Directives, Due Process, and Medical Futility
Robert L. Fine AND Thomas Wm. Mayo

Annals 2004 140: 404. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. S. Zier, J. H. Burack, G. Micco, A. K. Chipman, J. A. Frank, and D. B. White Surrogate Decision Makers' Responses to Physicians' Predictions of Medical Futility Chest, July 1, 2009; 136(1): 110 - 117. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. W. Neuberg The Cost of End-of-Life Care: A New Efficiency Measure Falls Short of AHA/ACC Standards Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes, March 1, 2009; 2(2): 127 - 133. [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. A. D'Amico, M. J. Krasna, D. M. Krasna, and R. M. Sade No Heroic Measures: How Soon Is Too Soon to Stop? Ann. Thorac. Surg., January 1, 2009; 87(1): 11 - 18. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. S. McCabe and C. Storm When Doctors and Patients Disagree About Medical Futility J. Oncol. Pract, July 1, 2008; 4(4): 207 - 209. [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Shanawani, M. D. Wenrich, M. R. Tonelli, and J. R. Curtis Meeting Physicians' Responsibilities in Providing End-of-Life Care Chest, March 1, 2008; 133(3): 775 - 786. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. P. Burns and R. D. Truog Futility: A Concept in Evolution Chest, December 1, 2007; 132(6): 1987 - 1993. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. L. Fine and R. D. Truog Tackling Medical Futility in Texas N. Engl. J. Med., October 11, 2007; 357(15): 1558 - 1559. [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. D. Truog Tackling Medical Futility in Texas N. Engl. J. Med., July 5, 2007; 357(1): 1 - 3. [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. B. White, J. R. Curtis, L. E. Wolf, T. J. Prendergast, D. B. Taichman, G. Kuniyoshi, F. Acerra, B. Lo, and J. M. Luce Life Support for Patients without a Surrogate Decision Maker: Who Decides? Ann Intern Med, July 3, 2007; 147(1): 34 - 40. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. M. Luce and D. B. White The Pressure to Withhold or Withdraw Life-sustaining Therapy from Critically Ill Patients in the United States Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., June 1, 2007; 175(11): 1104 - 1108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. L. Fine, J. M. Whitfield, B. L. Carr, and T. W. Mayo Medical Futility in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Hope for a Resolution Pediatrics, November 1, 2005; 116(5): 1219 - 1222. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. E. Finucane Advance Directives, Due Process, and Medical Futility Ann Intern Med, March 2, 2004; 140(5): 403 - 403. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. T. Berger Advance Directives, Due Process, and Medical Futility Ann Intern Med, March 2, 2004; 140(5): 402 - 403. [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. L. Flamm and M. L. Smith Advance Directives, Due Process, and Medical Futility Ann Intern Med, March 2, 2004; 140(5): 403 - 404. [Full Text] [PDF]