["Medical futility": the doctor caught between the demands for and the limitations of treatment].

The term medical futility is applied to justify withholding treatments in patients who are likely to gain minimal benefit. Futility refers to limiting the moral obligation to provide medical treatment on the basis of clinical efficacy. Current discussions about the meaning of medical futility revolve around two distinct but related concerns. Firstly, whether it is possible to define medical futility in a way that enables objective assessment. Secondly, who should determine when a treatment is futile. In this article we summarize the debate about futility and discuss the relevance of this concept.