Is there possibly a fate worse than death?

Oh, yes, says a survey of 180 severely ill patients ages 60 and older admitted to a Pennsylvania hospital with conditions such as advanced heart failure and malignant cancer.

The study by University of Pennsylvania researchers, which appeared in JAMA Internal Medicine, cautions that “patients may underestimate their abilities to adapt to certain health states.”

But these conditions were considered as bad as, or worst than, death:

  • Bowel and bladder incontinence (about 70 percent of respondents).
  • Reliance on a breathing machine (about 70 percent).
  • Inability to get out of bed (about 70 percent).
  • Being confused all the time (about 60 percent).
  • Reliance on a feeding tube (about 55 percent).
  • Needing around-the-clock care (more than 50 percent).

 

Not preferable to death: Needing to be at home all day, being in moderate pain all the time or needing to be in a wheelchair (A vast majority of respondents).

For information about treatment options, visit the Hartford HealthCare Tallwood Urology and Kidney Institute.