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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My parents have complained that the doctors treat them like they are 'expired' and not worth fixing. The doctors have told them they can't (or won't) try to address certain health problems they have. Instead they're told it's old age, just live with it. Has anyone else heard of this type of refusal to treat? What's the cutoff age?[/quote]

I'm a nurse on a cardiac surgery unit.  I don't know how many people are declined surgeries, but I do see who was accepted.  60s and 70s are most common.  I can't recall a time when I had a patient who was over 90.  Early 80s and 50s might be equally represented.  A good outcome is not guaranteed to anyone at any age.  Sometimes and certainly not rarely there are complications like stroke or worse.  Being fit prior to surgery is no guarantee of a good outcome.  We have two patients on our unit right now that have been in the hospital for 30+ days.  Spending the majority of your day in bed and/or a chair for that long takes a toll on your skin, muscles, and fitness level.  If this was your parent, who would take care of them when they eventually went home?  Is your other parent up for the challenge?  Are your parents strong enough to help each other out of a chair?  Are they flexible enough to get on the floor and scrub the trail of poop or pee because the spouse can no longer get to the toilet fast enough?  Are they able and willing to follow post surgery medication regiments, diets, and exercise?

Recovery is not easy especially if one already has mobility issues.  If you weren't fit before surgery, you could be looking at weeks of rehab after discharge.  After rehab, one often becomes a burden to their family because mobility issues only get worse following a long hospital/rehab stay.  So many patients tell me that recovery is harder than expected even though they're told multiple times by multiple people that it will be painful and difficult.

Lastly, there are only so many surgeons, nurses, hospital rooms, etc.  Everything in a hospital is a limited resource.  One of the surgeons usually does 3 surgeries per day.  There needs to be space and staff in the operating room, ICU,  etc. for each of those patients.  Like I said earlier we have a few patients with long stays.  The average stay is around 4 or 5 days.  If one patient is in the room for 30 days due to complications that means 5 or so other patients couldn't get their procedure done because there is not a hospital bed available.  [/quote]

I wish you would name your hospital so we know not to take our elderly parents there.

I have a relative who had two emergency cardiac valve surgeries (not open-heart surgeries) in her 90s at Cornell medical center in NY. She is still alive a year later. She never pooped on the floor, as in the example you stated. She was discharged from the hospital straight home (no time in rehab). Yes, she can get herself dressed, sit, stand, walk on her own. She reads a lot, takes walks and enjoys her family. Yes, it took a few weeks before she was fully mobile and, one year out, I do see a bit of a loss in memory (she had none before the surgeries) but I’m glad we chose to have the surgery done on her and she’s doing well.

I am writing this because there may be people who don’t know that heart valve surgery can be an option even for people in their 90s. [/quote]

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