Examining the root cause of surrogate conflicts in the intensive care unit and general wards

This study is an analysis of surrogate-focused ethics consultations in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the general wards (Ward) of a large community hospital in Northern California. We identified the major themes of surrogate-focused ethics consultations to better understand the root cause of surrogate conflicts, and identified the similarities and differences between surrogate-based conflicts in the two settings. Consults requested because the surrogate had desires that conflicted with the physician's medical opinion of 'best interest', or cases involving surrogates not upholding a patient's known values reflected the root cause of the majority of surrogate conflicts (72.7% ICU, 83.3% Ward).