A person admitted to a health care facility expects to receive medical and nursing care appropriate to his or her particular illness (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2010). In the American health care system, a dying patient is shaped by rules, regulations, and conventions written and unwritten. A patient’s experience in the system is also based on the health care coverage that is provided by the government to assist them during their illnesses. In certain situations that involve dying patients, the goal must not be to simply provide expert medical care to an individual patient, but to help give voice and connection and meaning to a family. The family of a dying patient must be relegated to a deathwatch in the corridor or the waiting room down
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Among thirteen countries including Japan, Sweden, France and Canada, the U.S. was ranked 12th, based on the measurement of 16 health indicators such as life expectancy, low-birth-weight averages and infant mortality (Starfield, 2000). In another comparison reported by the World Health Organization that used a different set of health indicators, the U.S. also fared poorly with a ranking of 15 among 25 industrialized nations. The United States spends more on health than any other industrialized country (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2010). The rising costs of health care are partly due to the rise in technological devices that promises a revolutionary range of tools for fighting disease. Although, the persistent advances in medical technology effectively extend life longer and longer, but it often makes it hard to know when to stop treatment. According to DeSpelder and Stockland, report shows that a quarter of the Medicare budget is spent on the last year of patients’ lives and 40 percent of that amount is spent in the last 30 days. Significantly, the medical system has played a huge role in undermining the health of Americans. According to several research studies in the past years, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments: …show more content…
Although utilization of hospice care has increased during the last decade, there is still evidence that hospice care remains underutilized especially in the long term care setting. Some of the reasons for the lack of utilization are due to cultural and attitudinal, lack of awareness of the benefit, while others are arguably a result of government policies and practices (Hoffman & Tarzian, 2005). The age of patients determines the amount of care they receive from hospitals. According to (Hoffman & Tarzian, 2005), people age differently. Instead of using age as an absolute criteria we should use the potential of the individual to benefit physically, mentally and socially from our medical intervention. Our health care system must face up to setting limits and the elderly pose a particular problem. They will double to 60 million in 25 years; those over 85 will triple. Forty percent of doctor 's visits now involve those over 65. Thirty percent of Medicare is spent on 5 percent of its enrollees (Hoffman & Tarzian,
Among thirteen countries including Japan, Sweden, France and Canada, the U.S. was ranked 12th, based on the measurement of 16 health indicators such as life expectancy, low-birth-weight averages and infant mortality (Starfield, 2000). In another comparison reported by the World Health Organization that used a different set of health indicators, the U.S. also fared poorly with a ranking of 15 among 25 industrialized nations. The United States spends more on health than any other industrialized country (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2010). The rising costs of health care are partly due to the rise in technological devices that promises a revolutionary range of tools for fighting disease. Although, the persistent advances in medical technology effectively extend life longer and longer, but it often makes it hard to know when to stop treatment. According to DeSpelder and Stockland, report shows that a quarter of the Medicare budget is spent on the last year of patients’ lives and 40 percent of that amount is spent in the last 30 days. Significantly, the medical system has played a huge role in undermining the health of Americans. According to several research studies in the past years, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments: …show more content…
Although utilization of hospice care has increased during the last decade, there is still evidence that hospice care remains underutilized especially in the long term care setting. Some of the reasons for the lack of utilization are due to cultural and attitudinal, lack of awareness of the benefit, while others are arguably a result of government policies and practices (Hoffman & Tarzian, 2005). The age of patients determines the amount of care they receive from hospitals. According to (Hoffman & Tarzian, 2005), people age differently. Instead of using age as an absolute criteria we should use the potential of the individual to benefit physically, mentally and socially from our medical intervention. Our health care system must face up to setting limits and the elderly pose a particular problem. They will double to 60 million in 25 years; those over 85 will triple. Forty percent of doctor 's visits now involve those over 65. Thirty percent of Medicare is spent on 5 percent of its enrollees (Hoffman & Tarzian,