 The Best Interests standard: The surrogate is to decide based on what, in general, would be good for the patient. The moral principle underlying this standard is the principle of  beneficence. This legal standard has traditionally assumed a quite generic view of interests, asking what a "reasonable" person would want under the circumstances and focusing on general goods such as freedom from pain, comfort, restoration and/or development of the patient's physical and mental capacities. This is because the Best Interests standard has mainly been employed when there is little or no information about the patient's specific values and preferences. However, the concept of best interests is simply the concept of what is best for the person. There is no reason why, in principle, the Best Interests judgment could not be as nuanced and individual as the best theory of  well-being  dictates.