Death Resources Refusing, Withholding or Withdrawing Treatment Surgery, treatment, or procedures that offer no hope of benefit to a patient should not be offered or provided.
Patients have a right to refuse treatment or to request that it be discontinued at any time.
Children sometimes have a right to treatment regardless of the decisions of their parents or guardians. Artificial nutrition and hydration are medical treatments that can be accepted or refused by patients. Life-sustaining treatments can include CPR, ventilation, dialysis, antibiotics, artificial nutrition and hydration, antiarrythmics, blood pressure medications, blood and blood products, and other medications and procedures capable of sustaining life. The treatment is medically ineffective or inappropriate, or is no longer medically effective or appropriate. Treatments or procedures that are found to be medically ineffective after they are attempted should be discontinued.