Abstract

Medical futility theory has become an enduring topic of discussion among medical practitioners and bioethicists of all persuasions. This is not necessarily surprising in light of the constant advances in pharmacokinetics and medical technology. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation has existed since the early 1970s but was used primarily to treat neonates. Simplistically defined, an ECMO is a smaller, transportable version of the heart–lung bypass machine used during open-heart surgery. It can be used as a temporary rescue device for severe pulmonary or cardiac failure and is very frequently deployed during an acute cardiac emergency, such as cardiac arrest that does not respond to CPR or cardiogenic shock. The increasing use of ECMOs highlights the problem of identifying and understanding medical futility.