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Study highlights importance of advance-care plans

Respiratory Care Weekly, August 10, 2006

When surveyed 90% of patients indicated that they'd like to name a medical surrogate as part of routine care, yet only 26% have been asked, according to the Journal of General Internal Medicine's Web site. The study, which focused on advance-care planning, showed that 30% of married patients don't choose their spouse as their medical surrogate; of that group many are women who instead choose sisters, mothers, and daughters. However, the common practice in hospitals is to consider the spouse as medical proxy. Setting up someone other than a spouse typically involves formal documentation in the medical record.

"Emphasis on end-of-life care, terminal illness, and the use or discontinuation of life-sustaining medical treatment [as in the Terri Schiavo case] has obscured the need for advance planning in the regular care of all competent adult patients," said study author Michael Lipkin, MD "Advance-care planning is not about documents, it is about persons and their relationships."

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