Few Seniors Record Treatment Preferences Before Surgery

A study published in JAMA Surgery suggests only about a quarter of U.S. seniors with chronic health problems prepare documents detailing their treatment preferences prior to risky surgery, reports Reuters Health . The 393 study subjects, all 65 or older, had multiple illnesses and underwent high-risk surgery. Only about 25 percent had advance care planning documents noting their preferences for treatment options. Just 31 percent of those who died within a year after surgery had prepared such documentation. "Advance care planning can be as little as identifying who your decision maker may be if you are not able to make your own decision," noted Victoria Tang of the University of California, San Francisco. The study also found persons 85 or older were more likely to have prepared advance directives than people 65 to 74; those who made more frequent doctor visits and those diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment also were more likely to have such documents ready. Harvard Medical School Professor Zara Cooper said informal documents are often turned over to family members or primary care doctors as a testament to a comatose individual's preferences when deciding medical treatment. "There's a large cultural concern about taking away hope and discussing death and so a lot of clinicians are uncomfortable," she pointed out.