KUNC - Commentary Transcript .
Futility is one of the hardest concepts to get a grasp of in medical ethics.
It boils down to asking how small must the odds be for success and how great the cost in money and suffering to justify withholding a test or therapy, no matter how much a patient may want it. There are no characteristics of the pain nor findings on physical exam that suggest this is anything but a tension headache. The patient insists on getting a CT scan to rule out a brain tumor or aneurism. A woman consults her nurse practitioner with the same cough and sore throat that it seems most of the community has come down with in the last week. After ruling out strep throat by a quick laboratory test, the NP prescribes decongestants, pain relievers, rest, and chicken soup, explaining that the viral illness will get better on its own.