Hope, Truth, and Preparing for Death: Perspectives of Surrogate Decision Makers
Annals of Internal MedicinePublished 16 December 2008Open access
Latifat Apatira, Elizabeth A. Boyd, Grace Malvar, Leah R. Evans, John M. Luce, Bernard Lo
Citations196
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TL;DR
The attitudes of a diverse group of surrogate decision makers toward balancing hope and telling the truth in the care of seriously ill patients at high risk for death were determined.
Abstract
Most surrogates of critically ill patients do not view withholding prognostic information as an acceptable way to maintain hope, largely because timely discussions about prognosis help families begin to prepare emotionally, existentially, and practically for the possibility that a patient will die.
Keywords
Medicine
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