LAUSR

Patient preferences ought to guide clinical decision-making, particularly in serious illnesses where disease-directed therapies are not always effective and may cause additional suffering. Yet, clinicians commonly struggle to engage seriously ill patients and their families in conversations about treatment preferences, and may leave these conversations still unaware of patients’ wishes. When compared to Whites, African Americans may have different end-of-life (EOL) care preferences, which may impact the degree to which they are honored. We lack understanding about how widespread differences in preferences are. Better population-level data on patient preferences may help prepare clinicians for such discussions about goals of care.