The stability of older adults' judgments of fates better and worse than death

Decisions about specific life-sustaining medical treatments have been found to be only moderately stable over time. This study examined whether more g eneral judgments, such as whether a particular health condition is better o r worse than death, would exhibit greater stability. Fifty adults (aged 65 yrs and older) made judgements about the perceived quality of life (QOL) po ssible in a number of hypothetical states of impaired impaired health and t heir desire to live or die (LOD) in each state. Judgments were made twice f ron 5 to 16