Constructing High-stakes Surgical Decisions

Constructing High-stakes Surgical Decisions: It's Better to Die Trying.

OBJECTIVE To explore high-stakes surgical decision making from the perspective of seniors and surgeons. BACKGROUND A majority of older chronically ill patients would decline a low-risk procedure if the outcome was severe functional impairment. However, 25% of Medicare beneficiaries have surgery in their last 3 months of life, which may be inconsistent with their preferences. How patients make...

Examining the Role of Fairness in High Stakes Allocation Decisions

Abstract Recent experimental evidence has led to a debate about the nature of utility functions in which people are concerned about the amount others earn, and what factors heighten or diminish social preference. We explore fairness by examining behavior across three variants of the dictator game. Using data from nearly 200 dictators allocating as much as $100 each, we observe that fairness con...

High-Stakes Interpretation

High-Stakes Testing

I review the literature on the impact on student achievement of high-stakes testing. Its popularity as a mechanism for holding educators accountable has triggered studies to examine whether its promise to increase student learning has been fulfilled. The review concludes there is no consistent evidence to suggest high-stakes testing leads to increases in student learning. Some evidence suggests...

Making clinical decisions when the stakes are high and the evidence unclear.

Dylan, a 20 month old boy, was referred to a paediatric allergy clinic for assessment of his peanut allergy. At 12 months of age he developed facial contact urticaria to peanut butter, which spontaneously resolved without respiratory or other symptoms. Since then, he has not had further reactions or eaten peanuts, although the rest of the family often eat peanuts and nuts. Dylan is regularly ca...