[HSF] [Fwd: MedEvents - The Man on the Table Was 97, but He Devised the S...

[Rwmfglycar at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/25/2006 5:42:56 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
Cysmd613 at aol.com writes:

Last  week I was asked to see a 96 year old woman with a 6 cm ascending,  
arch  
and descending aortic aneurysm with question of a small leak.  She  is  a 
nursing home resident.  I told the referring and the  family that she was  
not a 
candidate for  surgery


Yes but could she have a one hour meeting with residents discussing a wide  
range of surgical and sociological issues with them as I saw Michael De  Bakey 
do just 18 months ago?
Of course we know that if the op is turned down it is merely an obituary,  if 
it is done and he dies it is not much of a story, but if the surgery is  done 
and against all the odds he lives to talk about it a year later  and  a first 
class reporter like Larry Altman gets hold of it and ferrets  out the 
details, it becomes a front page story and actually very interesting. 
Bob
PS I am not suggesting relative "worth" here between the two patients but  
one factor that might modify the importance of  the numerical  age  in the 
decision making.