Daughter from California syndrome

Common card · No. 447555

"Daughter from California" syndrome is a phrase used in the American medical profession to describe a situation in which a hitherto disengaged relative challenges the care a dying elderly patient is being given, or insists that the medical team pursue aggressive measures to prolong the patient's life. In California, the "Daughter from California" is known as the "Daughter from New York"; the "Daughter from Ontario" is a Canadian variant. The "Daughter from California" is often described as angry, articulate, and uninformed. The phrase was first documented by a collective of gerontologists in a 1991 case report published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, titled "Decision Making in the Incompetent Elderly: 'The Daughter from California Syndrome'". In the paper, David Molloy and colleagues presented strategies intended to help medical staff deal with the difficult family members of mentally incompetent patients. Medical professionals say that because the "Daughter from California...

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