A matter of perspective: choosing for others differs from choosing for yourself in making treatment decisions.

Background: Many people display omission bias in medical decision making, accepting the risk of passive nonintervention rather than actively choosing interventions (such as vaccinations) that result in lower levels of risk.

Objective: Testing whether people's preferences for active interventions would increase when deciding for others versus for themselves.

Research Design: Survey participants imagined themselves in 1 of 4 roles: patient, physician treating a single patient, medical director creating treatment guidelines, or parent deciding for a child.