Re: More and More Dementia Patients Hospitalized

[Guest guest]

Sometimes " doing no harm " is synonymous with " letting them go. "

Twenty-five years ago, medical professionals felt that " doing no harm "

meant pressuring our family into allowing them to put my grandmother

through separate five amputations. Each time she begged to be allowed to

die. But the idea of just controlling the pain and letting her go wasn't

acceptable to those professionals and they did great harm.

We need a successful culture change that eliminates the fear of death and

recognizes the blessing that it is when it comes at the right time.

> **

>

>

> via Alzheimer's News

>

> More and More Dementia Patients Hospitalized

> Nov 16, 2011

> (Source: Archives of Internal Medicine) - A new analysis of elderly

> dementia patients has found that by 2050, between three and seven million

> may be hospitalized each year, up from just over one million a few years

> ago.

>

> That's worrisome both because the health care system is already strained,

> researchers say, and because the aggressive care given in hospitals might

> not be the best option for those patients.

>

> " This is the perfect nexus of 'do no harm' and 'be fiscally restrained,' "

> said Dr. a Zilberberg from the University of Massachusetts. " We are

> sending elderly demented patients into the hospital more often than we

> should, and it's not pleasant for them. "

>

> The researchers call for expanded use of nursing homes and hospice care

> instead of putting dementia patients in hospitals, where they are more

> likely to be confined to their bed and may have to be restrained.

>

> Go to full story:

> http://tinyurl.com/7lb94yb

>

>

>

--

Kate Knapp, OIT

University of Minnesota

" We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and

fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? Playing small does not serve

the world. "

- Mandela