Understanding the discordance about prognosis between clinicians and terminally ill patients and their surrogates

Understanding the discordance about prognosis between clinicians and terminally ill patients and their surrogates
The ASCO Post, by Jo Cavallo; 2/14/24
A Conversation with Douglas B. White, MD, MAS
Research shows that about half of adults near the end of life in the United States are too ill to participate in decisions about whether to accept life-prolonging treatment, requiring family members and other proxies to serve as surrogate decision-makers for their critically ill loved ones. However, research also shows that surrogates of patients with advanced illness often have optimistic expectations about prognosis, which often lead to the increased use of invasive treatment (including life support) in dying patients and delays in the integration of palliative care.