Most patients had spiritual needs. A slight majority thought it appropriate to be asked about these needs, although fewer thought this compared with reports in other settings. Few had their spiritual needs addressed by the staff. Patients whose spiritual needs were not met reported lower ratings of quality and satisfaction with care.

The B19 parvovirus is a remediable cause of severe chronic anemia in HIV-infected patients. Recognition of and therapy for parvovirus in this population will avoid erythrocyte transfusion and should prevent transmission of the virus to other persons, including immunosuppressed persons and women of child-bearing age.

OBJECTIVES-To determine the role terminally ill patients would opt to have their loved ones and physicians play in healthcare decisions should they lose decision-making capacity and how this changes over time. DESIGN-Serial interviews.SETTING-The study institutions were The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, and St. Vincent's Hospital, in New York.PARTICIPANTS-One hundred forty-seven patients with cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or heart failure, at baseline and 3 and 6 months.RESULTS-Patients' baseline decision control preferences varied widely, but most opted for shared decision-making, leaning slightly toward independence from their loved ones. This did not change significantly at 3 or 6 months. Fiftyseven percent opted for the same degree of decision control at 3 months as at baseline. In a generalized estimating equation model adjusted for time, moreindependent decision-making was associated with college education (P =.046) and being female (P =.01), whereas more-reliant decision-making was associated with age (P<.001). Patients leaned toward more reliance upon physicians to make best-interest determinations at diagnosis but opted for physicians to decide based upon their own independent wishes (substituted judgment) over time, especially if college educated.