Too Much: Living? -- Research Summary

BACKGROUND: More than 80 percent of Americans who die have a long, progressive illness such as cancer, heart failure or Alzheimer’s. According to the Dartmouth Atlas Project, more than 80 percent of these patients say they want to avoid hospitalization and intensive care when they are dying. However, hospitalizations during the last six months of life are on the rise. Treating chronic illness in the last two years of life eats up nearly one-third of all Medicare dollars. The average time spent in hospice and palliative care, which stress comfort once an illness can’t be cured, is falling because many patients are starting too late. In 2008, one-third of people who received hospice care had it for a week or less, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

(SOURCE: Associated Press article)

TOO MUCH TREATMENT? Guidelines from an alliance of leading cancer centers suggest patients whose cancer has spread should stop getting anti-cancer drugs if sequential attempts with three different drugs fail to shrink the tumors. However, almost 20 percent of colorectal cancer patients with disease that has spread are on at least their fourth chemotherapy drug, according to IntrinsiQ. The same applies for about 12 percent of metastatic breast cancer patients and 12 percent of those with lung cancer.

(SOURCE: Associated Press article)

A HARDER DEATH? Many doctors say too much treatment at the end of life can make the dying process more difficult for patients and their loved ones. "People are sicker now before they die than at any time in human history," Dr. Ira Byock, director of palliative care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, told Ivanhoe. "People used to die of things that they now live with for months and sometimes even years … In the quest to keep people alive, we close the doors that nature gives us to die gently."

THE COST: In 2009, Medicare paid $50 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives. Experts estimate that between 20 percent and 30 percent of these medical expenses may have no meaningful impact. It can cost up to $10,000 per day to maintain a patient in the intensive care unit. Some patients stay in ICU for weeks or even months. In fact, nearly 20 percent of Americans spend their last days in an ICU.

(SOURCE: CBS News) MORE

Too Much: Living? -- Research Summary | Medical News and Health Information

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