The Rise and Fall of the Futility Movement

Between 1987 and 1996, the concept of “medical futility” was debated in the medical community with a vehemence that few philosophical concepts elicit. Before 1987, the concept was virtually unrecognized. Interest in the concept peaked in 1995, when 134 articles on the topic were published, and has subsequently waned; a Medline search of the key word “futility” for the year 1999 yielded only 31 articles.The movement to establish a policy on futile treatment was an attempt to convince society that physicians could use their clinical judgment or epidemiologic skills to determine whether a particular treatment would be futile in . . .