Wilkinson, Dominic. “Beyond resources: declining parental requests for futile treatment.” Lancet 389, no. 10082 (2017).
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The sad and difficult case of Charlie Gard, is the latest in a series of court cases in the UK
when parents and doctors have disagreed about medical treatment for a child. Doctors
regard the treatment as “futile” or “potentially inappropriate”. Parents, in contrast, want
treatment to continue. In the current case, the judge rejected Charlie’s parents’ request for
him to travel to the US for an experimental medical treatment. He ruled that life-sustaining
treatment could be withdrawn, and Charlie allowed to die. When doctors and the courts consider cases like this one, they often focus exclusively on best interests. In some cases, however, it is uncertain whether or not treatment would be in the interests of the patient. Indeed, there may be stronger and clearer arguments to limit treatment on the basis of finite and scarce medical resources. The different ethical reasons that justify a decision not to provide treatment might come together, or they might come apart.