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The Multiple Facets of Futility

“Physicians’ Quantitative Assessments of Medical Futility,” by S. Van McCrary and colleagues, includes two components: a study of physicians’ disagreement on quantitative assessments of futility and a proposal for a multidisciplinary forum to address judgments about futility in the clinical setting. In addition, the authors mention that the concept of futility is ambiguous. It is important to assess these two points in light of the ambiguity of the concept, since it is possible that the reader will infer from what McCrary and colleagues report that futility means something other than it does. What is the “core” concept of futility? Recognizing that disagreements persist, I would assert that a medical intervention is futile when the physician has reasonable confidence that it will fail to provide the sorts of benefits that