Medical Futility and Maryland Law

Abstract:     
On November 30, 2010, over 200 individuals attended the Maryland Health Care Ethics Committee Network’s (MHECN’s) symposium on medical futility and Maryland law at the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus. The conference focused primarily upon the intractable cases surrounding medical futility and whether Maryland’s Health Care Decisions Act (HCDA) is effective in providing ethical resolution. This article includes an explanation of medical futility and the disputes surrounding end-of-life treatment, specifically in connection to Maryland legislation. Most participants at the conference seemed to agree that revisions to the Maryland HCDA are needed. Providers need to 'stand up' for their patients. The tough work is designing a dispute resolution mechanism that can act with the real-time speed these cases demand, yet include sufficient safeguards to ensure due process protections like neutral and unbiased adjudication.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 3

Keywords: medical futility, Maryland law, end-of-life, state health law, Maryland’s Health Care Decisions Act, HCDA, health care, Maryland Healthcare Ethics Committee Network

JEL Classification: K32

Accepted Paper Series