"End-of-life medical advice: Devaluing patients in name of greater good?"
Excellent piece by David Shaywitz.
Yes, a lot of money is spent on the last six months - but this strikes me as more a statistical feature than anything else; what would an alternative spend distribution look like?
It's important to recognize that first, we often don't know just how near the end is, and second, even if we have a clear idea, then so what? If someone is diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer or certain types of brain tumors, should we tell them that for the good of society, please don't rack up additional bills, the treatments probably won't do much good anyway?
What ever happened to common sense and a sense of decency?
Posted by: jorod | July 29, 2012 at 08:51 PM