Stopping Medical Treatment or Support
We all have the right to refuse or stop medical treatments that no longer align with or values, goals, or desired quality of life. This right applies whether we’re living with a serious chronic illness or facing the final stages of a terminal condition.
For some people, continuing certain treatments may feel burdensome, invasive, or no longer meaningful. Choosing to stop or decline treatment is a personal decision about how one wishes to live, and eventually die, with dignity.
Below are common categories of treatment decisions.
Withdrawing Supportive Medications for Organ Failure
Some people rely on medications to manage advanced heart, liver, or kidney failure—such as drugs that regulate heart rhythm, blood pressure, fluid balance, electrolytes, or ammonia levels.
In advanced illness, continuing these medications may prolong the dying process without improving comfort or quality of life. Choosing to withdraw them may hasten death, but it is legally and ethically permissible when aligned with the person’s goals and when appropriate palliative care is provided to relieve symptoms.
Hospice teams are especially skilled at managing symptoms that arise after these medications are stopped.
👉 See Hospice Care
Stopping Curative or Disease-Directed Treatments
People undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, or other disease-directed treatments always have the right to stop treatment.
As illness progresses, the side effects of treatment may outweigh the benefits. Some individuals choose to stop aggressive therapies and focus on comfort, time with loved ones, or quality of life. Others may explore alternative or lower-intensity treatments that provide symptom relief without curative intent.
These decisions can be revisited at any time and should be guided by honest conversations with healthcare providers about goals, benefits, burdens, and likely outcomes.
Declining Preventive Medications or Screening Tests
People with serious or terminal illness have the right to question—or decline—screening tests, preventive medications, and long-term therapies that are unlikely to provide meaningful benefit.
For example:
- Colonoscopy, mammography, or PSA testing may not be helpful if results would not change care or improve quality of life.
- Long-term preventive medications, vitamins, or supplements may offer no benefit while adding side effects, costs, or burden.
These decisions are reasonable and common when the focus shifts from prevention to comfort and lived experience.
Declining or Removing Life-Prolonging Interventions
Some individuals choose to decline or discontinue medical interventions that mechanically or artificially prolong life, such as:
- Ventilators
- Feeding tubes
- Artificial hydration
- Dialysis
- Pacemakers or implantable defibrillators
- Vasopressors (IV medications to raise blood pressure when critically low)
- CPR
- Cardioversion (electrical shocks to treat an abnormal heart rhythm)
- IV antibiotics to treat an infection
Adults capable of speaking for themselves have the legal right to refuse such interventions at any time. No one can be forced to undergo dialysis, have a feeding tube placed, or remain on a ventilator against their wishes.
When a person is no longer able to speak for themselves, having a well-documented advance directive with clear guidance is critical. These documents help loved ones and clinicians honor the person’s values and preferences.
Keep Talking
Decisions about continuing or stopping treatment can be very challenging; clear communication among patient, loved ones, and medical team may help tremendously. Support may also come from other clinicians, social workers, chaplains, hospice teams, or patient advocates. A helpful resource in preparing for potential end-of-life decision making is the Conversation Project’s Talking to Your HealthCare Team Guide.
Stopping life-sustaining treatment does not always result in immediate death. Palliative care and hospice may play a crucial role in managing symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, or agitation for as long as life continues.
👉 See Advance Care Planning
👉 See Hospice Care
👉 See Palliative Care
👉 See Conversations Matter