Accuracy of Primary Care and Hospital-Based Physicians' Predictions of Elderly Outpatients' Treatment Preferences With and Without Advance Directives

Past research has documented that primary care physicians and family members are often inaccurate when making substituted judgments for patients without advance directives (ADs). This study compared the accuracy of substituted judgments made by primary care physicians, hospital-based physicians, and family surrogates on behalf of elderly outpatients and examined the effectiveness of ADs in improving the accuracy of these judgments.