The momentum to treat in America is unmatched around the globe

An excerpt from At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life. Copyright © 2018 by Samuel Harrington, MD. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved. The momentum to treat in America is unmatched around the globe or throughout history. As a result, we spend twice as much on medical care as the next most expensive country. A very large percentage of that money is spent in the last six months of life. What fuels the momentum to treat? American exceptionalism, for one. This is an ingrained feeling that the United States and its citizens are not only different but are the best, have the best, do the best, and deserve the best. As a result, most Americans pridefully believe that American medicine is the best in the world. These Americans are dead wrong. Compared with other developed countries, American medicine is unexceptional except in terms of cost, convenience, and self-promotion. In terms of things that matter — such as life expectancy, infant mortality, or quality of life after sixty-five — the United States ranks in the lower third of developed countries, sometimes dead last. Yet American exceptionalism inspires acquiescence in patients, which makes resistance to treatment almost unpatriotic. When coupled with the profit-over-principle mentality of providers, this momentum to treat contributes to the medicalization of death. Three years before leaving my practice, I met an elderly patient who developed late-onset ulcerati...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Geriatrics Hospital-Based Medicine Primary Care Source Type: blogs