The Cost of Dying

Source: New England Journal of Medicine. HT to Don Taylor, who provides an interesting discussion.

Comments (5)

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  1. Studebaker says:

    Maybe HHS could cut seniors’ medical cost in the last two years of life if seniors were forced to die two years sooner! At the very least HHS needs to institute a Carousel like on Logan’s Run at an age no older than 90.

  2. Devon Herrick says:

    It’s sounds like a no brainer for the Department of Health & Human Services to institute a policy against aggressive intervention and resuscitation for those within a few days, weeks, months or even a year of death. The problem is: doctors are not very good at determining weeks in advance (much less two years) who is going to die and who will pull through. Moreover, patients’ family members are often unwilling to consider Do Not Resuscitate orders even for the most hopeless cases.

  3. Brian says:

    That is a very revealing graph.

  4. Carolyn Needham says:

    Wow! This is very telling

  5. Virginia says:

    I predict that over the next decade or two, we will fundamentally change the way we deal with death. For one, we won’t have the money to continue our current path. For another, we will realize the barbarism in hospital-based end-of-life care.

    Nice chart. Thanks for posting.