I'm the healthcare proxy for my Mom and my Aunt, who are looking at either side of 90 years of age. Within the last few months, they both have spent a good number of days in the hospital due to horrible reactions to new medication. Luckily, my sister and I found a hospital with a geriatric evaluation unit, and in each case they were immediately taken off the offending drug regimen. Is this situation commonplace? If so, let's please stop doing it.
Details below.
My understanding is that Medicare costs are greatest for our most elderly. What I see is that these costs are needlessly inflated by doctors who are too quick to prescribe medicines which are appropriate "by the book" but which are totally inappropriate for anyone over 80. My Aunt was prescribed an anti-anxiety medication, and my Mom was prescribed Coumadin. In both cases, the folks at the geriatric evaluation center said "Nope!" I mean, it wasn't even close... in my Mom's case the nurse practitioner who greeted my Mom said that we're switching her to aspirin. Three days later, my Mom is fine... WTF! It's not like she needed to see a specialist (clearly, that's not a win... her cardiologist was insistent on Coumadin).
Look, the first thing these Titans of Medicine need to do is "to do no harm". And that might mean that they stop being d**kheads and call up somebody (like a nurse practitioner wise in the ways of oldsters) before they prescribe a new medication to a patient old enough to remember the Great Depression. Seems to me that a phone call is a whole lot cheaper than a couple of weeks in a hospital. Maybe they don't know that your metabolism changes (a lot) when you reach 80. Or maybe they're afraid of exposing themselves to lawsuits if they don't do things by-the-book. At this point, I don't care... this problem is ripe for a very simple solution. Your thoughts and experiences are welcomed.