The number of times that a physician will deal with a surrogate decision maker is growing as our population ages and conditions such as Alzheimers disease become more common. The issue of how physicians interact with surrogates is a very important one. We found that physicians often want to take an active role in determining what is right for a patient and often grapple with the needs of the patient versus those of the surrogate, said Dr. Torke, who is an IU School of Medicine assistant professor of medicine and geriatrics and a Regenstrief research scientist. She is also on the faculty of the IU Center for Aging Research and the Fairbanks Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

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