'Slow Medicine' Shows Appeal for Some Elderly

The New York Times examines 'slow medicine,' an alternative approach to difficult end-of-life decision-making for the elderly, which encourages health care professionals to have early conversations with patients about the realities -- and limited rewards -- of hospitalization and costly, aggressive treatments and operations. The slow medicine movement emphasizes comfort as opposed to the current health care system, in which doctors typically do everything possible to save a life. Our own Choicework Discussion Guide on this subject outlines some pros and cons of the slow medicine approach (see Perspective 2) and other approaches to these complex issues.

End of life decisions have proven to be intensely personal ones for the public. While a plurality (44 percent) in a recent survey said they would choose to stop treatment if they had an illness that left them totally dependent on a family member for care, 38 percent still say they would tell their doctor to do everything possible to save their life.