Alternatives to hospital treatment keep health costs down [UPDATED]

Published 9:32am Friday, March 1, 2013 Updated 11:33am Friday, March 1, 2013

Anyone who has read this week’s Time Magazine article, “Bitter Pill,” will learn how expensive it is to go to the Emergency Room.

It is very reassuring to me that seven of the eight folks listed in today’s obituary were able to spend their final hours peacefully at home, in hospice or in a nursing home.

They were not sent to the hospital to be tortured by procedures which would only delay the inevitable. The majic request for us seniors and our families is comfort care and do not resuscitate.

This is not “pulling the plug” but rather humane and avoids wasted resources.

 

Robrt D Wasson, MD

Battle Lake

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