Table 2.

Categories and sample quotes of kinds of decisions participants considered serious, difficult or important. Quotes for each decision type are from either a patient perspective or surrogate decision-maker perspective.

Decision Type	Patient or surrogate	Quote
Cancer treatment
Medical cancer treatment	Surrogate	The doctor examined her and took some blood tests and was telling me that she had a hidden cancer of some sort, that her life expectancy was pretty short.... So the real question was whether or not to do something about it and to talk it over with my brother. ... Do you want to put your mother through a lot of tests for—that are very inpatient and she’s had a great life and all that. It’s kind of like getting me to think maybe about just not doing anything which I finally decide not to do anything. – ID P28, Man, White, age range 80-89
Cancer Surgery	Patient	The one that was most difficult for me was when I got a blood test showed that I had prostate cancer and so the physician I went to wanted to wait and watch… I decided to have surgery. – ID P29, Man, White, age range 80-89
Chronic illness management
Chronic medical treatment	Patient	Regarding my pills, I have made a decision to take a medicine that comes from vegetables. The doctor doesn’t know this. He always finds my blood fine and so, I believe that I am doing fine. – ID P33, Man, Latino, age range 60-69
Elective surgery	Surrogate	Well, I had to make a decision for my wife. I decided that she should have a hernia surgery and surgery on both of her knees. And I am the one who makes all the decisions for her. – ID P25, Man, Latino, age range 70-79
Transitions at the end of life
	Surrogate	We made a decision all of us, as a family, because she was hospitalized due to her stroke … whether to leave her in the hospital or take her home. We decided to take her home and made the commitment to take care of her in shifts. – ID P18, Woman, Latina, age range 80-89
Advance Care Planning
Treatment Preferences	Patient	So my directive basically says, “I don’t want to be kept alive artificially. If the doctors say there’s not going to be any quality of life going forward, you know, just end it.” - ID S7, Man, White, age range 70-79
Choice of surrogate	Patient	I knew that I had to have somebody and it happens to be my nephew and he agrees with me that I could take care of myself as long as I could, of course. – ID P14, Man, White, age range 80-89
Acute Medical Crisis
Life-sustaining treatment	Surrogate	So I have to make a decision then. She was on the life support too… So the doctor explained… there’s no way; she’s not going to make it, right. Don’t let her suffer... So I had to sign papers to pull the plug out. – ID S11, Woman, African-American, age range 40-49
Acute Surgery	Patient	I’ve had gallbladder surgery a while ago, but nobody helped me in making that decision because the doctor told me that it was necessary to do it and I couldn’t live without doing that surgery. – ID P18, Woman, Latina, age range 80-89
Acute medical treatment	Surrogate	18 years ago, my first grandson was born. And I had to make a decision on the spot because my daughter couldn’t give birth to her child. So, I told the doctor- He needed to give her a shot in her hip and yes, I made that decision. – ID P20, Woman, Latina, age range 60-69