El debate entre la futilidad médica y la limitación del esfuerzo terapéutico. Desde una perspectiva bioética y legal

Abstract

It seems logical that, in parallel with the gradual increase in the scientific, technological and pharmacological ability of modern medicine, in order to change the course and the arrival of death, has developed the debate about reasonable limits for the using this technology, continue to serve the interests of sick individuals. At present no one know the term futility, but in the medical field and in patient critical unrecoverable or terminally ill, treatment goals that define it are often confused. So when, how and under what restrictions the establishment or maintenance of certain supportive measures or treatment that may be useless or futile not come to prolong life, but the agony, the pain or suffering must be avoided are the issues around which it is tied so under different names, it was identified today as limitation of treatment (LET), which is not to apply extraordinary measures or disproportionate to the therapeutic purpose that arises in a patient with poor prognosis and / or poor quality of life. Which can be of two types: not initiate certain measures or withdraw when instauradas.Por therefore LET practice seems to be present in the medicine of the past fifty years, but often have not been openly acknowledged, perhaps due to lack conceptually, ethical and legal clarity that has dragged until recently.