Futility:
Case 3 Discussion
In many cases, "futility" is used inaccurately to describe situations that appear undesirable. For this patient, treating pneumonia with antibiotics stands a reasonable chance of success. The patient's quality of life, though low, is not unacceptably so. Unless the patient (or if found incapacitated, his surrogate) was to say that he would find this quality of life unacceptably low, there is neither quantitative nor qualitative grounds for calling antibiotics futile in this case.
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