This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0164027509333683v1 31/4/463    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Moorman, S. M. Articles by Carr, D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Do Older Adults Know Their Spouses' End-of-Life Treatment Preferences?

¹ University of Wisconsin–Madison
² Rutgers University

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: smoorman{at}ssc.wisc.edu.

	Abstract

When terminally ill patients become mentally incapacitated, their surrogates often make treatment decisions in collaboration with health care providers. The authors examined how surrogates’ errors in reporting their spouses’ preferences are affected by their gender, status as durable power of attorney for health care (DPAHC), whether they and their spouses discussed end-of-life preferences, and their spouses’ health status. Structural equation models were applied to data from married couples in their mid-60s from the 2004 wave of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Surrogates reported their spouses’ preferences incorrectly 13% and 26% of the time in end-of-life scenarios involving cognitive impairment and physical pain, respectively. Surrogates projected their own preferences onto their spouses’. Similar patterns emerged regardless of surrogate gender and status as DPAHC, marital discussions about end-of-life preferences, or spousal health status. Implications for the process of surrogate decision making and for future research are discussed.

First published on March 18, 2009, doi:10.1177/0164027509333683

Research on Aging 2009;31:463.

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2009


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?