Doctors choose less care compared to their patients

I've talked before about how I feel about end of life care. I want my patients to be comfortable. I want to avoid any interventions that are not going to improve quality of life. Patients and their families don't always agree with what I want. That's their prerogative. End of life is a scary time for people and involves decisions we hope to never have to make.

Patients who are doctors tend to choose end of life care with the least interventions.

"In a 2003 article, Joseph J. Gallo and others looked at what physicians want when it comes to end-of-life decisions. In a survey of 765 doctors, they found that 64% had created an advanced directive—specifying what steps should and should not be taken to save their lives should they become incapacitated. That compares to only about 20% for the general public."

It may be worth including these stats when discussing end of life care with our patients and their families. We are always told to use evidence based medicine, and to not ever answer "what would you do if you were me" with a straight answer. This seems like an ethically sound way to answer this question.