Additive Multicriteria Decision Analysis Models Are Not Misleading Aids for Life-Critical Shared Decision Making

Response to “Additive Multicriteria Decision Analysis Models Are Not Misleading Aids for Life-Critical Shared Decision Making” (by J. Dolan)

“…The letter by Dolan 1 fails to distinguish the very essence of what our article 2 focuses on: life-critical shared decision making (SDM). Dolan writes, “The conclusion is that additive MCDA models are not suitable for use in shared decision making.…”

“…Dolan writes, “The conclusion is that additive MCDA models are not suitable for use in shared decision making. The argument presented in the paper does not justify this conclusion.” 1…”

“…The argument presented in the paper does not justify this conclusion.'' 1 In fact, our key premise is that additive MCDA models are compensatory models and therefore inappropriate as aids for life-critical SDM. Additive independence 3 is an unrealistic assumption given the distinguishing feature that a preferred treatment 4 ''must actually improve health, and good performance on other criteria cannot compensate for failure to do so.''…”