I’m glad to see a new study which concludes that extra treatment doesn’t always mean better care, particularly at the end of one’s life. Released Thursday, the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care study looked at 4 million patients who were at least 65 years old over a five-year period in the last two years of life. It found that the more procedures and tests a patient receives, the greater chances for complications or errors.

A story in today’s Seattle P-I notes that endless medical appointments, tests and treatments may offer false hope and hurt one’s quality of life. Not to mention the enormous financial costs.

I think these are extremely important points which need to become part of the debate about how this nation is going to reform its health care system.
The same research group, out of Dartmouth Medical School, found in a 2006 study that there are enormous differences in the cost of dying, depending on where you life. A story in USA Today nicely describes the differences. It reports that about 27 percent of Medicare’s annual $327 billion budget goes to care for patients in their final year of life.

To me, it boils down to one issue: Are we going to accept our mortality when the time comes, or will we or our families engage in a futile battle to stay alive? Doctors take an oath to do all they can to keep people alive. It’s up to us to take back the reins when their help is no longer needed.

Personally, I remember being so impressed by my mother’s actions when my father was dying. Doctors wanted to keep him in the hospital, wanted to conduct more tests, wanted to operate. She insisted that he come home. It took him three months to die, and visits from his children, home health nurses and Hospice were all part of the scene. He was 92, and he died peacefully, at home.