Conclusions: The recent trend has been to rely on proxy decision making for incompetent patients. Support for proxy decision making has failed to acknowledge the growing body of ethical and empirical research suggesting that ...

Over the past two decades a societal consensus has developed around the principle that decisions about life-sustaining treatment should be guided by patient self-determination. According to the President's Commission, ...

...I suggest that making formal, written plans based on individual preferences apart from our families is a white, middle-class approach to life planning that is at odds with how many people actually lead their lives, ...