The Slow Medicine Problem

When it comes to sustaining human life, our culture tends to advocate performing every test and procedure possible even if there is only a remote chance it will work. This mentality even extends to chronically ill elderly patients for whom the most medical care might not be the best. In other words, blinded by our unbending esteem for human life, we sometimes subject elderly patients to tests, procedures, and surgeries that often hurt more than they help. Such procedures often take a significant toll on quality of life in pursuit of lengthening its quantity. In response to this trend, a new practice called “slow medicine” has emerged. In this post, we’ll discuss more about slow medicine and how it is revolutionizing the medical establishment.

Slow Medicine Defined

Spawned by research done at Dartmouth Medical School, slow medicine encourages doctors to be wary when considering medical care with high risks and limited rewards for the elderly. Additionally, slow medicine educates patients and their families on how to resist unnecessary emergency room visits, which are primarily designed for with treatable illnesses. In many ways, slow medicine helps patients adjust to the inevitable erosion that comes with advancing years in the most comfortable way possible. Much like hospice, the goal of slow medicine is comfort, not a cure. Slow medicine is becoming increasingly available in nursing homes, but may be hard to find in assisted living and other institutions.

Financial Implications

Many patients in their 80s and 90s and their Baby Boomer children will stop at absolutely nothing to stay alive. Not surprisingly, doctors comply readily, as they get paid for performing the procedure, not discussing whether it should be done. The most expensive patients are the elderly with multiple chronic illnesses, many of whom have government-subsidized healthcare. As a result, this demographic group forces massive federal expenditures on healthcare that actually may not be necessary at all. What’s worse, most experts agree that these expenses are simply not sustainable as the Baby Boomers age.

Where the Money Goes

Critics of slow medicine often endorse the most advanced tests, renowned specialists, and the newest remedies for their aging patients. The bulk of this money then goes toward academic medical centers, which are most likely to be equipped with such technology. In fact, as an example, the New York University Medical Center in Manhattan spends a whopping $105,000 on an elderly patient with multiple chronic illnesses during the last two years of his or her life. Much of this comes at the expense of the quality of the patient’s life, and it’s possible that most of the money was squandered on tests that simply can’t help anyway. By contrast, slow medicine seems a more human and practical approach to caring for the elderly.

Additional Resources:

• Dartmouth Medical School