Articles Tagged With: surrogates
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Establishing the Right Policies on Decision-Making for Unrepresented ICU Patients
A new policy statement recommends institutions prevent patients from becoming unrepresented in the first place by offering advance care planning. Conduct thorough capacity assessments and search for potential surrogates before assuming patients are unrepresented.
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Ethical Response Needed if Surrogate Disregards Patients’ Wishes
The role of surrogate decision-makers is to make decisions consistent with the patient’s previously expressed wishes, written documents, and values. But that is not what usually happens. Lack of communication between the patient and the surrogate and/or between the surrogate and the medical team is the biggest obstacle.
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Clinicians Struggle With Ethical Decision-Making if There Is No Surrogate
Federal law requires hospitals to inform patients of the need to choose a surrogate. However, many institutions perform this task poorly, due in part to a lack of clear policies, proper training, and other support. There are a few ways the ethics team can help.
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Conflicts on Prognosis Occur Over Half the Time Between Physicians and Surrogate Decision-Makers
Conflicts between physicians and surrogate decision-makers involving the patient’s prognosis occur more than half the time, according to a recent study.