The State : Life Support Criteria Issued

Stanford University’s Medical Center has issued a set of guidelines for doctors on when to withdraw life-prolonging procedures from terminally ill patients. The guidelines include basic principles underlying the ethics of medical intervention, including such subjects as preservation of life, alleviation of suffering, justice and respect for the autonomy of the patient. “We have taught doctors how to prolong life very effectively, but not how to decide when it is not appropriate to do so,” said Dr. John E. Ruark, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the center. The guidelines, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were designed to help doctors decide when life support should be withdrawn and how doctors should advise patients and their families to make such decisions.