Loading...
Evidence suggests that patients who are approaching death prioritize symptom control and dying at home over longevity. In this U.S. study of 180 seriously ill hospitalized patients with cancer (64%), heart disease (24%), or lung disease (12%), researchers assessed willingness to trade survival time to avoid high treatment intensity and suffering at the end of their lives.
Most patients rated their health as fair or poor (64%) and had experienced at least one intensive care unit (ICU) stay (58%). All participants were presented with a “survival time trade-off” question that asked them to imagine that they would live a maximum of 5 more years and then to choose one of two future scenarios: (1) Live 5 more years with three hospitalizations duri…