Doctors Choose No-Code Orders Themselves

In 2013, Stanford University researchers surveyed 1,081 physicians at Stanford Hospital & Clinics and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System about their end-of-life preferences. When asked what they would choose if terminally ill, 88.3% selected a do-not-resuscitate or "no-code" order for themselves. Yet doctors often pursued aggressive, life-prolonging treatment for patients facing similar prognoses. The researchers linked this disconnect partly to a medical system that rewards doctors for taking action rather than spending time discussing patients' wishes.

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