…ge NCD to take a leadership role in addressing the problem of futile care laws and policies which allow doctors to deny life-sustaining treatment to people with disabilities who want and need it. The judgment that a health care treatment is futile may sound like it could be based on an objective scientific medical assessment, but if it were, it would probably fail to meet “medical necessity” criteria and thus not be covered by insurance. The real…

…a leadership position in addressing the problem of so-called futile care laws and policies which allow doctors to deny life-sustaining treatment to people with disabilities who want and need it. Futile care laws and policies allow doctors to overrule the autonomous health care decision of an individual or their authorized surrogate in favor of treatment. The judgment that a health care treatment is futile may sound like it could be based on an ob…

…and ethical questions that require, at the very least, establishment of specific decision-making guidelines and procedures such as ethics committee oversight – procedures that were not followed in this case.[8] 3. The individual physician defendants should be considered state actors, as they were subject to University of Wisconsin Hospital ethics policies and their recommendations were backed by the prestige of the Hospital. Although the decision…