Do Patients Want their Families or their Doctors to Make Treatment Decisions in the Event of Incapacity, and Why?

CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to current practice, 33.9% of respondents who had not designated a surrogate, and 21.8% of those who had designated a surrogate indicated that they wanted their doctors to make treatment decisions for them in the event of decisional incapacity. Moreover, many of those who wanted their surrogates or family members to make treatment decisions explained this preference by citing a belief that loved ones knew the patient's treatment preferences. This belief is undermined by prior research which suggests that surrogates and family members frequently are unable to predict which treatments their charges would want. Future research should assess these two concerns with current practice and, where necessary, identify approaches to address them. PMID: 28944254 [PubMed]
Source: AJOB Primary Research - Category: Medical Ethics Tags: AJOB Empir Bioeth Source Type: research
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