While surgery is typically lifesaving for younger people, operating on frail, older patients rarely helps them live longer or returns the quality of life they once enjoyed, according to a 2016 paper in Annals of Surgery.
The cost of these surgeries – typically paid for by Medicare, the government health insurance program for people over 65 – involve more than money, said Amber Barnato, MD, professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Older patients who undergo surgery within a year of death spent 50 percent more time in the hospital than others, and nearly twice as many days in intensive care.
And while some robust octogenarians have many years ahead of them, studies show that surgery is also common among those who are far more frail.
Eighteen percent of Medicare patients have surgery in their final month of life and 8% in their final week, according to a 2011 study in The Lancet.