THE TREATMENT PERSPECTIVES OF PHYSICIANS, CITIZENS, AND STATE LEGISLATORS

This study addresses the dilemma of physicians to act both as an agent of their patients and as an agent of society. We contrasted the perce ptions of physicians, citizens at large, and state legislators about 1 1 topics related to physician decision making regarding the management of care for seriously ill patients. Significant and interpretable dif ferences were found between physicians and citizens, although there we re no differences between these two groups and the state legislators. However, even the obtained differences were fewer and smaller than exp ected. These results suggest that lay, legislative, and medical viewpo ints may be less at odds with each other than the literature would sug gest, and reaching an accord on at least some aspects of health policy may not be as difficult as generally is assumed.