AMA issues guidelines on end of life care

The American Medical Association's council on ethical and judicial affairs recommends a process based approach to deal with disputes about medical futility in end of life care, according to an article in the latest issue of JAMA (the journal of the American Medical Association 1999;281:937-41).

The process aims to tackle the problem of how and when doctors may discontinue treatment in cases where a patient is terminally ill.

Precedence is given to the wishes of the patient, or to his or her proxy in cases where the patient is …