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The authors report a case involving an infant with severe neurologic and a poor prognosis whose mother insisted that everything possible done to prolong the child's life. Physicians, supported by the hospital's committee and legal counsel, agreed that further medical intervention not in the patient's best interests, and declined to reinstitute ventilation. A hearing in probate court resulted in the child's to another institution where the parent's wishes were accommodated. , et al. discuss the case as the first time that physicians, even in the of judicial intervention, have refused to provide life-prolonging that they believed would be futile and inhumane for a critically ill. The court acknowledged that physicians and health facilities cannot required to provide treatment contrary to conscience. (KIE abstract)
Paris et al. (Thu,) studied this question.