Importance Hospitalized older adults often lack decisional capacity, but outside of the
intensive care unit and end-of-life care settings, little is known about the frequency of
decision making by family members or other surrogates or its implications for hospital care.
Objective To describe the scope of surrogate decision making, the hospital course, and
outcomes for older adults. Design, Setting, and Participants Prospective, observational study
conducted in medicine and medical intensive care unit services of 2 hospitals in 1 …