TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Chapter 5. Legal Issues in Critical Care A1 - Kapp, Marshall B. A2 - Hall, Jesse B. A2 - Schmidt, Gregory A. A2 - Wood, Lawrence D.H. Y1 - 2005 N1 - T2 - Principles of Critical Care, 3e AB - In order to be considered legally effective, consent to medical treatment must meet three tests: (1) it must be voluntary; (2) it must be adequately informed or knowing; and (3) it is given by an individual with adequate mental capacity and legal authority.Whereas a variety of state laws in the United States pertain to decisional capacity and surrogate decision making, in most cases the physician relies on family members as the surrogate decision makers for an incapacitated patient, even in the absence of a specific statute, advance directive, or court order empowering the family.An increasing percentage of patients, especially as the population ages, lack available, willing relatives or friends to act as surrogate decision makers. In such cases physicians should seek guidance from living wills or other forms of advance directives, when these exist.Neither a patient nor his or her family has a legal right to, nor does the physician have the obligation to provide, medical treatment that would be futile—that is, nonbeneficial—for that patient.As directors of critical care units, critical care physicians should participate in creating institutional protocols that delineate operational principles of the critical care team and the individual physician's supervisory responsibilities. SN - PB - The McGraw-Hill Companies CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2023/11/28 UR - accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=2291089 ER -