Competence to consent to treatment of geriatric patients: judgements of physicians, family members and the vignette method

Abstract

The disagreement between the judgements suggests a difference in factors given emphasis by the three methods. The finding that both the judgement of physicians and family members are associated with the assessment of the vignette, suggests that the vignette method has more than a legal theoretical base and is associated with daily life experience and knowledge as well. Physicians can be helped to assess competence by the vignette method to evaluate decisional abilities and by family members who can provide more information about patients' values.