"Medical Futility" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus,
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure,
which enables searching at various levels of specificity.
The absence of a useful purpose or useful result in a diagnostic procedure or therapeutic intervention. The situation of a patient whose condition will not be improved by treatment or instances in which treatment preserves permanent unconsciousness or cannot end dependence on intensive medical care. (From Ann Intern Med 1990 Jun 15;112(12):949)
| Descriptor ID |
D018447
|
| MeSH Number(s) |
E01.789.600
|
| Concept/Terms |
Futile Treatment- Futile Treatment
- Futile Treatments
- Treatment, Futile
- Treatments, Futile
|
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Medical Futility".
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Medical Futility".
This graph shows the total number of publications written about "Medical Futility" by people in this website by year, and whether "Medical Futility" was a major or minor topic of these publications.
To see the data from this visualization as text,
click here.
| Year | Major Topic | Minor Topic | Total |
|---|
| 1996 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1997 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 1999 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2003 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2006 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2010 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2011 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2012 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2014 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2016 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2017 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2018 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2024 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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Below are the most recent publications written about "Medical Futility" by people in Profiles.
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What Do We Owe Our Patients? Surgeon Obligations When Patients Are Too Sick for Surgery. J Am Coll Surg. 2024 Oct 01; 239(4):394-399.
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Utility or futility? A contemporary approach to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for TP53-mutated MDS/AML. Blood Adv. 2024 02 13; 8(3):553-561.
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The Use of Slow Codes and Medically Futile Codes in Practice. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2021 08; 62(2):326-335.e5.
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Reflections on Charlie Gard and the Best Interests Standard From Both Sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Pediatrics. 2020 08; 146(Suppl 1):S60-S65.
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The Four-Quadrant Approach to Ethical Issues in Burn Care. AMA J Ethics. 2018 Jun 01; 20(1):595-601.
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Ethical Analysis of Withdrawing Total Artificial Heart Support. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017 05; 92(5):719-725.
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Surgical futility and patient-centered care: The effects of human nature in decision making. Bull Am Coll Surg. 2016 11; 101(11):20-3.
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Comparison of futility monitoring guidelines using completed phase III oncology trials. Clin Trials. 2017 Feb; 14(1):48-58.
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Eleanor Roosevelt's last days: a bioethical case study. Am J Med. 2015 Apr; 128(4):437-40.
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Futility and the care of surgical patients: ethical dilemmas. World J Surg. 2014 Jul; 38(7):1631-7.