The Physician's Responsibility toward Hopelessly Ill Patients

Abstract

EFFORTS to define policies on withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining procedures from hopelessly ill patients are a relatively recent development. In 1976, when two major hospitals publicly announced their protocols in treating the hopelessly ill, the Journal marked the event with an editorial titled "Terminating Life Support: Out of the Closet!"¹ Since then, the subject of permitting patients to die has emerged into the open. The courts have issued several well-publicized decisions since the 1976 Quinlan case,^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9} and legislatures in 15 states and the District of Columbia have enacted "natural death" acts (California, 1976; Idaho, 1977; Arkansas, 1977; New Mexico, 1977; . . .