Personal decision aiding: Some observations about the Beach birth-planning procedure

The decision-aiding procedure developed by Beach and his colleagues for birth planning is reviewed. It is shown that the models underlying the Beach procedure have some unusual and problematic formal consequences. Contrary to the claims of Beach et al., the procedure cannot rely on a simple interpretation of standard utility theory for its justification. It is noted that, despite its formal difficulties, the Beach procedure has a unique feature for alerting the decision maker to potentially significant outcomes which could be adapted profitably in other decision-aiding settings besides birth planning. Suggestions for how to address the theoretical shortcomings of the Beach technique are offered.