A new myth about families of older people?
Are gerontologists creating a new myth about families by emphasizing individual autonomy as independence without family interdependence, by advocating advance directives instead of supporting a rebuttable presumption of family surrogates, and following the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Cruzan case (Cruzan v. Director, 1990), by ignoring intergenerational interdependencies in surrogate decision making? This paper argues that another antifamily trend is developing despite empirical evidence showing that elderly persons themselves prefer family members to represent them in surrogate decision making. Research and public policy suggestions are offered for protecting the elderly's preferences.
High
D M
DM
Department of Philosophy, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506.
D016223:Advance Directives / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D036262:Empirical Research; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012945:Social Values; D035521:Supreme Court Decisions; D035502:Trust; D014481:United States