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Intractable Disagreements About Futility
- Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 60, Number 3, Summer 2017
- pp. 390-399
- 10.1353/pbm.2018.0013
- Article
- Additional Information
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This paper discusses the inevitable ambiguity of the language that we use to describe events that are rare and emotionally devastating. A search for precision in such circumstances may distract from more important issues. Neither families nor doctors need more precise language. Instead, they need more trust, more emotional transparency, and a recognition by doctors of the tragic nature of the decision they face.