“The High Cost of Dying”: What Do the Data Show?

There has been neither a dramatic rise in the last 20 years in the use of the hospital as a place to die, nor of widespread use of "heroic" interventions on behalf of those who die, and very sick patients receive intensive and expensive care.

Abstract

Assertions that we now spend too much of our medical dollar on the dying often imply a ready target for cost-containment efforts: frequency and intensity of expenditures at the end of life, especially for the aged. But available, although meager data suggest there has been neither a dramatic rise in the last 20 years in the use of the hospital as a place to die, nor of widespread use of "heroic" interventions on behalf of those who die. Rather, very sick patients receive intensive and expensive care; our ability to project rates of survival vs. terminal patient status warrants caution in approaches to medical economy.