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Elderly Stunningly Likely to Have Surgery in Final Year

Doctors question if we're operating on the old too often

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 6, 2011 11:53 AM CDT

(Newser) – Elderly patients are stunningly likely to have surgery in the last year, month, or even week of their lives, according to a new study from Harvard researchers, who looked at 1.8 million Medicare recipients over the age of 65 who died in 2008. According to publicly available records, nearly 1 in 3 of them had surgery in the year before death, nearly 1 in 5 in the month before, and nearly 1 in 10 in the week before, numbers far higher than researchers had expected, the New York Times reports.

Researchers say the numbers indicate that doctors too readily turn to painful and dangerous surgeries at the end of life. “I will admit to being guilty of this,” the lead author says. Surgery may “fix” a problem, “but will it let you walk out of the hospital alive?” But critics say the study is skewed because it looks only at people who died—ignoring others for whom surgery might have prevented death.

Lots of patients head here before hitting the great beyond.
Lots of patients head here before hitting the great beyond.   (Shutterstock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 14 comments
Person12345
Oct 6, 2011 10:37 PM CDT
When death is in the near future, most people can't give in to it and let nature take it's course.  Everyone I know says "no artificial means" to stay alive, no surgery, no chemo, no radiation.  People are born and people die, we just have to get used to the fact that we can't keep people alive forever with all these medical procedures that do not improve the quality of life.
sarcasticer
Oct 6, 2011 7:18 PM CDT
The elderly don't know its their last year of life when they have the surgery. The researchers only discover that after the death. Many 70 year olds think they have 20 years left.
apoptotic
Oct 6, 2011 6:25 PM CDT
Two words - informed consent. Nothing is done without the patient or power of attorney agreeing. Patients (or families) get desperate, are not willing to admit/accept the diagnosis, so its do something that might improve quality of life, or do nothing. How many times do you think a patient or the family says do nothing? It's not often. To them, it's almost as if choosing to do nothing is synonymous with killing the loved one. So what is a physician to do? Refuse? He/she can (and will), but now where does that leave the patient? If the physician doesn't do a potential surgery, and the patient dies, you better believe an attorney will do everything to make a malpractice case (aiy yai yai). Yes, I agree we do too much at end of life, but its not greedy doctors, its our societies nonacceptance of death.

 
surgery • Medicare • end of life care

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