Wealth Is Likely to Mean Less Pain at Life's End

[mopaul]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/health/02patt.html?ex=1123646400&en=b0113b1dc4b4a1f7&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY

-------something not to look forward to-----------

People whose net worth is over $70,000, the median in the United States, are 30 percent less likely than poorer people to feel pain at the end of their lives, a difference that persists even when controlling for age and severity of illness, a new study shows.

Forum: Health in the News
The findings, which appear in the August issue of The Journal of Palliative Medicine, used information on more than 2,600 adults over 70 who died from 1993 to 1998. The researchers interviewed proxies, usually surviving spouses, to gather information about pain, depression, delirium and difficulties in breathing or eating at life's end.

Wealth was a strong predictor of how many different types of discomfort an older adult suffered, with those whose net worth was over $70,000 having a 9 percent lower risk of experiencing multiple symptoms.

Dr. Maria J. Silveira, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of general medicine at the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said there were ways to "break the connection between money and quality of death."

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Wealth preserves. Great wealth preserves indefinitely.

Don't know who said it first, but I remember hearing it a long time ago, and it is still true.

[mopaul]

3. the rich get more justice, and more morphine

the poor can just suffer

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. They call $70,000 wealth???

[mopaul]

4. it would be for me

but i hear ya

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. I don't have time to read the study right now, but since both parties

the one without 70K and the one WITH 70K would still be dependent on medicare (although the 70K one would have supplemental insurance) it perplexes me. I mean the morphine costs the same for both parties.

[Elidor]

6. More

The precise reasons that more affluent people suffer less are not known, but the authors speculate that richer people may be more demanding of better care, have access to care beyond what insurance provides, have more social supports and end their lives in settings with high-quality care.

No word on whether the wealthy feel less remorse.

[Lady President]

7. Wealth along with education and family advocacy

Personally, I believe that there is a strong correlation between wealth, education, and family advocacy.

A wealthy person is more likely to have educated family members who have read enough to know that end of life pain is not necessary.

Wealthy family members are also less likely to be overly impressed by doctors, so they will push for their loved ones. I'm not above throwing the fact that I have practiced medical mal. law to scare the doctors into treating my family members with kid gloves. (I do wish type time of behavior on my part wasn't necessary.)

On a personal note, my father died of lung cancer last Fri. He wasn't in pain because my family made sure of it, not because my parents had $70,000+ / yr. (They didn't.) I was fortunate that I had paid vacation that I could take to help ensure that morphine, oxygen, and ice cream were in their house. Eventually, he went into the hospice area of the hospital and had wonderful care. It has been difficult, but scares me to think how awful things must be for people without the freedom to take off work, or without adequate insurance.