Dead Panels Cost

While the report on the mammogram study is not available to us it did point us in the direction of a controversy we've avoided. Aunt Pearlie made the decision not to continue her life over our objections and despite our protestations to the contrary. It was her decision and again we'll bow out of further discussion. The question posed by the earlier reports isn't whether the government should decide your grandmother's fate. The question is how soon will your hospital and your doctor begin deciding when to withhold information on treatments because of their costs to your HMO or hospital? They have already begun discusing it in public. The question will be decided sooner rather than later.

Association of a Cancer Diagnosis With Vulnerability and Frailty in Older Medicare Beneficiaries: "Few studies have evaluated the independent effect of a cancer diagnosis on vulnerability and frailty, which have been associated with adverse health outcomes in older adults... Conclusion: Diagnosis of a non-skin cancer was associated with increased levels of having disability, having geriatric syndromes, and meeting criteria for vulnerability and frailty."

How much is life worth? The $440 Billion Question: "The decision to use expensive cancer therapies that typically produce only a relatively short extension of survival is a serious ethical dilemma in the U.S. that needs to be addressed by the oncology community, according to a commentary published online June 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute... ...Every life is of infinite value, the authors say, but spiraling costs of cancer care makes this dilemma inescapable."
"The current situation cannot continue. We cannot ignore the cumulative costs of the tests and treatments we recommend and prescribe. As the agents of change, professional societies, including their academic and practicing oncologist members, must lead the way," the authors write. "The time to start is now."

One of our arguments to the hospitals who do not release their medical error statistics is: "isn't it better to have more information rather than less when making a choice of medical facilities?" We believe the answer is always yes! The questions the medical community will be asking will be how much will you spend to keep grandma alive? In terms of drugs they've already decided costs (that can be passed on to you) is no object. Treatment that you might declare bankruptcy to avoid - might not get paid. We would have spared no expense to keep Aunt Pearlie alive - she however had a difference of opinion and hers was the only one that mattered.