Health knowledge made personal
 
Overview Blog Posts Discussions People
More
Join this community!
+ Add Bioethics to My Feeds
+ Bookmark page
› Share page: Email Digg del.icio.us Reddit icon StumbleUpon Technorati
All
HealthBloggers
Go
Search posts:
By Thaddeus Pope
Doctor of Philosophy
Blog: http://medicalfutility.blogspot.com/
+ Add Blog to My Feeds
› View Profile
› Send a message
› Write on Whiteboard

More from this Member

•
Medical Futility
•
Senate Hearing: Honoring Final Wishes: How to Respect Americans' Choices at the End of Life
•
A Duty to Die?
•
My Response to the Nat'l Catholic Partnership on Disability
•
Practice of Treating Patients with Little Hope Is Debated
» View All
 

Last-Ditch Efforts Can Drag Out Suffering

Posted Jul 01 2010 3:30am
The following statistics are well-known among ethics, palliative care, and critical care professionals.  I am glad they are being reprinted in newspapers across the country.

"More than 80 percent of people who die in the U.S. have a long, progressive illness such as cancer, heart failure or Alzheimer's.  More than 80 percent of them say they want to avoid hospitalization and intensive care when they are dying, according to the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which tracks health-care trends."

Yet that's not what is happening:  
  • "The average time spent in hospice and palliative care, which stresses comfort and quality of life once an illness is incurable, is falling because people are starting it too late. In 2008, one-third of people who received hospice care had it for a week or less, says the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization."
  • "Hospitalizations during the last six months of life are rising: from 1,302 per 1,000 Medicare recipients in 1996 to 1,441 in 2005, Dartmouth reports. Treating chronic illness in the last two years of life gobbles up nearly one-third of all Medicare dollars."
  • "People are actually now sicker as they die," and some find that treatments become a greater burden than the illness was, said Dr. Ira Byock, director of palliative care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. "There are worse things than having someone you love die," he said.

Report this
Share article
Bookmark article

Related Articles

Last-Ditch Efforts Can Drag Out Suffering
mission: exert minimum effort
3March 6, 2009The Progression of RA from a Sufferer’s Perspective – Part I – The Roller Coaster
Doctors suffer when their patient suffers
my almost 5 year old suffers from recurrent chest infections requiring hospital admission once a year, he also suffers from ecze
I suffer from extreme bloating directly after I eat. I also suffer from embarrassing wind and bad breath. I brush my teeth but
my son is 16months old and he is suffering from vomiting, diarrhea and low appetite. he is suffering for more than 5 days. what
i am suffering from diabetes 2 and recently i also get suffered by jaundice so how can i prevent this?suggest me diet also.
my father,age 60 yrs,is suffering from typhoid for last 1 week.also suffers from diabetes &hyperthyroidism.wat shud b diet plan
Looking for a doctor for 83 yr old suffering chronic foot pain. Possible nerve damage. Suffering 8 yrs.
Post a comment
Post comment
Write a comment:

Related Searches