EuthaNEWSia (www.euthanewsia.ca)

Dr. Jeff Gordon, author of A Death Prolonged, writes:
Physicians must offer informed consent before every planned procedure. We accept this as an ethical absolute: if we neglect informed consent then we violate a basic value of our profession. Why? Because as a profession, and as a society, we believe patients should know the benefits, risks, and alternatives so they can make informed decisions.

In American medicine we violate this central principle hundreds of times, every day, when we provide heroic care to elderly people without obtaining informed consent in advance. We rationalize it as "emergency intervention" even though we should expect death, and discuss heroic end-of-life care in advance. Most elderly Americans have not obtained the information they need to make meaningful decisions about their medical care in the face of a serious illness. The tragic result: many elderly patients receive futile and painful care that they would decline if given the opportunity in advance. To the human catastrophe of prolonged dying, we add the tremendous financial cost, and we have a social problem of epic proportions. And sadly, no one seems to have the courage or will to face this tsunami of suffering and waste.

Gordon concludes: We must start now to stem the tide of suffering and wasteful spending. Close to 30% of Medicare expenditures occur in the last year of life, with about half that in the last two months. In 2009, that represents $70 billion in the last two months of life. The heartbreaker: most of that money is spent on care that patients would decline if we would give them the opportunity to make an informed decision. [Thanks to Peter Singer for the alert on this story.]

[There is information in the Notes section below.]

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past and future advisories on the web (see bottom.)

Gordon, Jeff. "Elder Abuse: Treatment Without Consent". End of Life Education. Tuesday, May 11th, 2010. <eoleducation.org/blog/elder-abuse-treatment-without-consent/>.

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid201005177193.
Mailed: Monday, May 17, 2010 14:30:45 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>.

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