From: Older adults' beliefs about physician-estimated life expectancy: a cross-sectional survey
Participants' response | Domain | Example |
---|---|---|
Agree or strongly agree | 1) personal experience | 1) "Because she knows my overall physical condition and hopefully she is knowledgeable and aware of her limitations. Nobody knows how long anybody is going to live; nobody can play God, but they do know for certain conditions and to a certain degree." |
 | 2) physician knowledge | 2) "They know for the most part. Partly because when my husband died suddenly, and he had just had a physical, so I went to see my doctor because I didn't want to die suddenly too, and he said I'd live 20 more years, but there are some conditions they don't have tests for, and you have to forgive them that |
 | 3) uncertainty | 3) "It's a guesstimate, you know. I had a horrendous car accident in September, and it's a miracle I did not die. It can happen fast and have nothing to do with disease." |
Disagree or strongly disagree | 1) personal experience | 1) "They don't know. My sister defied the life-expectancy predictions. She had metastatic breast disease and was in a coma; now she's doing okay." |
 | 2) physician knowledge | 2) "I don't think medicine is that well-known. It's terribly complex." |
 | 3) uncertainty | 3) "I could get killed by an automobile tomorrow, or by having something fall on me." |