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Biomedical subjects

A F Conard

Publications and source records attributed to A F Conard.

2 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Elder choice.

Thanks to medical technology, thousands of elderly patients suffer the agony of debility, from which many of them would choose to be released if they knew how to effect a choice. Prolonging their metabolism is unfair to them and to their families, and strains the nation's overburdened health care resources. Medical directives offer elderly patients avenues of escape from unwanted treatment. Health care for the aged should include informed access to these means of choice.

Advance Directives↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Elder choice and health care costs.

While strategists struggle with the dilemmas of health care, they seem to overlook a practice that might simultaneously relieve the suffering of elder patients and limit the costs of their treatment. If elder patients were given a clear opportunity to choose, many might reject the costly procedures that keep them breathing in misery during the last weeks, months, and even years of their survival. Other elders who see the clouds of debility approaching might be freed of the dread of endless imprisonment in a nursing home. Empowering elders to make these choices does not require changes in law, but only changes in how we provide and finance care.

Advance Directives↗