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Surrogate Decision MakingOnly One Piece of the Puzzle
Barbara A. Morris, MD
Arch Fam Med. 1995;4(6):503-504.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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IN CURRENT AND past practice, we have turned to proxy decision makers when our patients have been unable to speak for themselves.1 This behavior is based on the ethical principle of substituted judgment, largely presuming that proxy decision makers (usually family or friends) have the ability and knowledge to accurately speak for our patients when they cannot speak for themselves and have not left us direct indication of their wishes. We have relied on proxy decision makers to help us to make life-and-death decisions for our patients. When we are aware that the proxy decision maker has little or no knowledge of a patient's wishes, we have defaulted to the "best interest" standard and have assumed that surrogates are able to make informed decisions for the "good" of our patients.2 When no family or friends exist, we have even allowed ourselves to become proxy decision makers and have
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
University of Cincinnati (Ohio)
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