Should resuscitation replace good communication in the care of elderly patients?

Thompson, Campbell H; Brown, Margaret

doi:10.5694/mja12.10401

To the Editor: There are challenging ethical, legal and clinical issues associated with resuscitation and end-of-life care for older people. When an elderly patient with comorbidities and limited independence deteriorates, and is unable to participate in decision making, is it good medical practice to subject that person to invasive and traumatic resuscitation when the survival rate is less than 3.4%?1

1 University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.
2 Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA.

Correspondence: Campbell.thompson@adelaide.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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