More Americans Than Brits Die In Intensive Care Units

When Americans are near the end of life hospitals try to keep them alive past the point their bodies can do it. Does anyone think this is a good idea?

Patients who die in the hospital in the United States are almost five times as likely to have spent part of their last hospital stay in the ICU than patients in England. What's more, over the age of 85, ICU usage among terminal patients is eight times higher in the U.S. than in England, according to new research from Columbia University that compared the two countries' use of intensive care services during final hospitalizations. "Evaluating the use of intensive care services is particularly important because it is costly, resource intensive, and often traumatic for patients and families, especially for those at the end of life" said Hannah Wunsch, M.D., M.Sc., assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, of Columbia University, lead author of the study. "We found far greater use of intensive care services in the United States during terminal hospitalizations, especially among medical patients and the elderly."

I support the use of ICU equipment when someone has suffered a severe trauma or even a heart attack where they have some prospect of recovery. But if you are going to die then what's the point?

Suppose ICU technology keeps advancing and people can be kept alive on machines while, say, cancer ravages their brains, bones, etc. Isn't it torture to keep people alive under those circumstances? I've been close enough to someone who was dying that I've sat across from a hospice nurse who explained to me such things as, for example, if the person had a heart attack then attempts to revive would likely break ribs (the ribs were full of cancer) and that this would just make them live longer with even more pain. There was a conscious decision by all concerned to avoid the hospital. I wonder how many people get taken to the hospital to die in an ICU after a few extra horrible weeks of life because there's no family members available to talk it out with doctors and hospice people in advance.