The findings of this study indicated that surrogates of patients who were more severe in disease condition, whose physicians initiated the discussion of palliative care, and who stayed longer in hospital were important factors affecting the surrogates' DNR decision-making. Therefore, early initiation of DNR discussions is suggested to improve end-of-life care.

We concluded that physician-assessed autonomy would affect a good death and was highly correlated with age, consciousness level, and quality of dying at the end for advanced cancer patients in Taiwan.