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Identifying medical proxy should be part of routine medical care
Hindu - Jul 28, 2006
Lipkin is assistant professor of clinical preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The finding that 33 percent of the married patients in the study did not choose their spouse as surrogate is noteworthy, because physicians regularly look to spouses as informal surrogates. Additionally, over a quarter of survey participants chose someone other than the person identified as an emergency contact to act as proxy in medical decision-making. “When patients choose a surrogate who is not the person doctors would usually consult or who would not become empowered as a substitute decision-maker under state laws, physicians are alerted to engage these patients in an advance care planning process that ensures the formal appointment of their desired health care agent,” Lipkin said. “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,” Lipkin said… Lipkin regards the routine identification of a proxy for health care as a door-opening first step for ongoing conversations between doctors, patients and families
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