Medicare patients get costly surgery at end of their lives

By Ira Zunin

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 15, 2011

~~<p>My auntie is dying from metastatic breast cancer. This week she underwent surgery to remove one more mass under her arm. She is also scheduled to receive another round of radiation in six weeks. My mother observed that her doctors never spoke about her prognosis or chances of surviving the surgery or the radiation. Auntie is almost 80. She has been a heavy smoker since age 14 and her emphysema is so bad she can only walk a few steps before she has to catch her breath.</p>
<p>Auntie is not unique. As many as 1 in 3 Medicare patients undergo surgery during the last year of life, according to a Harvard research study recently published in the Lancet. What does this mean about our cultural attitudes and practices around death and dying? Have we forgotten or chosen to ignore that death is as natural as the changing of the seasons? Has the process of passing away been hijacked and now reduced to a lucrative market niche within the health care industry? Has the prospect of reimbursement for procedures taken precedence over medical ethics?</p>
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My auntie is dying from metastatic breast cancer. This week she underwent surgery to remove one more mass under her arm. She is also scheduled to receive another round of radiation in six weeks. My mother observed that her doctors never spoke about her prognosis or chances of surviving the surgery or the radiation. Auntie is almost 80. She has been a heavy smoker since age 14 and her emphysema is so bad she can only walk a few steps before she has to catch her breath.

Auntie is not unique. As many as 1 in 3 Medicare patients undergo surgery during the last year of life, according to a Harvard research study recently published in the Lancet. What does this mean about our cultural attitudes and practices around death and dying? Have we forgotten or chosen to ignore that death is as natural as the changing of the seasons? Has the process of passing away been hijacked and now reduced to a lucrative market niche within the health care industry? Has the prospect of reimbursement for procedures taken precedence over medical ethics? Login for more...