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A comment on Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations. Parent comment

Re:Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations by michaelmrose on Monday December 16, 2019 @03:46AM (#21801688)
I would want to live another few years even being frail in fact most people would.
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Re:Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations by onion2k on Monday December 16, 2019 @04:07AM (#21801775)
most people would

You're wrong. There are many factors in play (family, friends, isolation, stress, money, pain, etc) around the individual's choice, but studies often find that the majority of older people would prefer a palliative approach to end of life. For example https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4821585/ Sadly there aren't many studies around this topic. It's important, especially when so many people assume that older people just want to 'not die' rather than listen to what they actually want.

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Re:Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations by wongarsu on Monday December 16, 2019 @04:14AM (#21801801)
I personally knew a guy who was diagnosed with cancer and instead of treatment chose to spend his last few months with his family and then just die. This was in Germany, so all healthcare would have been payed for. A major reason was minimizing suffering for his family, having a good conclusion instead of prolonged suffering with unclear end date.
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Re:Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations by chewz on Monday December 16, 2019 @05:10AM (#21802020)
My uncle got diagnosed with cancer at 93 and his initial choice was similiar (I have to die of something in the end). But the family convinced him to try the therapy and it worked. He is still after two years alive and relatively well.
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Re:Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations by ovi256 on Monday December 16, 2019 @07:18AM (#21802503)
Different types of cancers are entirely different diseases with different outcomes. Your uncle was part of the lucky ones.
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Re:Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations by heurist on Monday December 16, 2019 @07:46AM (#21802615)
Have you experienced frailty before? I have had a chronic illness that intermittently puts me out of commission as a relatively young person. Imagining living that way as an already aged senior sounds like torture.
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Re:Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations by lotsofpulp on Monday December 16, 2019 @06:31AM (#21802322)
I would rather the resources to keep me alive in a frail state go to benefit the younger and future generations. At least the option for me to do that comfortably should exist.
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