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Susan E. Light, MD
South Freeport, Me

JAMA. 1986;255(22):3113.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

I read with interest the article by Dr Winkenwerder¹ entitled "Ethical Dilemmas for House Staff Physicians" in THE JOURNAL. He eloquently describes and analyzes a situation all too often encountered and usually ignored because the more pressing dilemmas facing a house officer revolve around the physical well-being of the patient. In reading his article I was reminded of an analogous experience during the first year of my fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology. The situation was made more poignant by the fact that the patient was a teenage boy who was recently diagnosed as having acute lymphoblastic leukemia but was being kept alive by artificial ventilation and pressors following a central nervous system hemorrhage. The family was devastated by the course of events and I knew no way to ease their pain. I could not understand the reason why the attending physician chose to continue supportive care. After . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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