Richard O. Duda
September 27, 2015
Few doctors are choosing to be trained for geriatric care. As a result, the elderly are often treated using the so-called medical model: determine the most life-threatening problem and treat it. The medical model prioritizes maintaining life at all costs. But it is failing elderly patients with serious illnesses. 25% of Medicare spending is for 5% of patients in their final year of life, and most of the expensive treatments provide little real benefit (see http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/being-mortal/). However, there are alternatives that focus on making the remaining days as good as possible. Richard O. Duda will discuss these issues.