Ann Acad Med Singap
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Apr 2012
Discrepancies in end-of-life decisions between elderly patients and their named surrogates.
This study aims to determine the attitudes of Asian elderly patients towards invasive life support measures, the degree of patient-surrogate concordance in end-of-life decision making, the extent to which patients desire autonomy over end-of-life medical decisions, the reasons behind patients' and surrogates' decisions, and the main factors influencing patients' and surrogates' decision-making processes. We hypothesize that there is significant patient-surrogate discordance in end-of-life decision making in our community. ⋯ The majority of patients desire autonomy over critical care issues. Relying on the surrogates' decisions to initiate treatment may result in treatment against patients' wishes in up to one-third of critically ill elderly patients.