Table 5 Respondent level of agreement with general topics involving advance directives
Statement Presented to Responding Physicians | Agree | Disagree | Neither | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Liability risk less for maintaining someone alive against their will than mistakenly allowing them to die. | 200 (52%) | 116 (30%) | 72 (19%) | < 0.01 |
Comfort measures only should allow physicians to continue life support measures. | 74 (19%) | 262 (67%) | 53 (14%) | < 0.01 |
“No life support” should be interpreted literally. | 248 (64%) | 87 (22%) | 53 (14%) | < 0.01 |
Physicians should be allowed to provide care independent of the advance directive as patients do not have the knowledge to best appreciate the idiosyncrasies involved with the practice of medicine. | 58 (15%) | 287 (74%) | 43 (11%) | < 0.01 |
Physicians should only be legally liable when they intentionally disregard a patient’s AD. | 216 (56%) | 84 (22%) | 88 (23%) | < 0.01 |
The financial cost of providing medical care should never impact a decision to honor or forgo expressed wishes noted in an AD. | 267 (69%) | 65 (17%) | 56 (14%) | < 0.01 |