The Article in Brief
Preventing Life-Sustaining Treatment by Default
Ursula K. Braun , and colleagues
Background Many patients receive life-sustaining treatment by default, because there are no instructions available as to what kind of care the patient prefers and because surrogate decision makers are likely to ask for �everything� when they do not know a patient�s preferences. This article identifies pathways to life-sustaining treatment by default originating with the patient�s preferred decision-making style.
What This Study Found Preventing life-sustaining treatment by default depends on increasing the frequency with which patients make clear decisions or clearly express their values and goals and then effectively communicate this information to physicians and/or surrogates.
Implications
- Preventing life-sustaining treatment by default could enable family members to report the patient�s end-of-life preferences, rather than act as surrogate decision makers, and thus reduce the burdens of making end-of-life decisions without adequate information.
- Preventing life-sustaining treatment by default would help health care professionals to better respect patients' autonomy.