Surrogate Medical Decision-Making: Prevalence, Significance and Decision Priorities. Writing up stage

with Wolfgang Luhan and Georgia Buckle

Abstract:

We analyse motivational factors that influence surrogate decision-makers when making choices about serious medical treatments. In an online survey, 666 participants, including NHS frontline workers and non-frontline workers (general public), reported how often they observed surrogate medical decisions, who typically made these decisions, and what they believed were the most important factors influencing each type of surrogate. We find that the majority of all serious medical treatment decisions are delegated to surrogates. Decision priorities are also found to vary significantly between patients and the three distinct categories of surrogates: family members, medical practitioners, and appointed attorneys.