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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Life sustaining treatments
— what do physicians want and do they express their wishes to others? | | Author(s) | Joseph J Gallo, Joseph B Straton, Michael J Klag |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 51, no 7, July 2003 |
| Pages | pp 961-969 |
| Keywords | Medical care ; Terminal care ; Attitude ; Doctors ; Social ethics ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Older physicians who were medical students graduating from Johns Hopkins University between 1946 and 1964 were sent questionnaires about whether they have discussed preferences for end-of-life medical care with their own physicians, whether they have established an advance directive (living will), and what life sustaining treatment they wish in the event of incapacity to make such decisions for themselves. Of 999 physicians sent the survey, 765 (77%) responded. 46% felt that their own doctors were unaware of their treatment preferences or were not sure. Of these respondents, 59% had no intention of discussing their wishes with their doctors in the next year. In contrast, 89% thought their families were probably or definitely aware of their preferences. 64% reported that they had established an advance directive. Compared with those without advance directives, those who established an advance directive were more likely to believe that their doctors or family members were aware of preferences for end-of-life care and were more likely to refuse treatments than those without advance directives. The survey draws attention to the gap between such preferences and expressing wishes to others through discussion, even among doctors. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-030813206 A |
| Classmark | LK: LV: DP: QT2: TQ: 3F: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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