Jimmy Carter, Nonagenarians and Health Care

In a recent Associated Press article, Jimmy Carter Shows 90+ Age Not a Barrier to Major Surgery, the writers cite several examples of successful surgeries or advanced treatments for the most senior of senior citizens.  

Irwin Weiner felt so good after heart surgery a few weeks before turning 90 that he stopped for a pastrami sandwich on the way home from the hospital. Dorothy Lipkin danced after getting a new hip at age 91. And at 94, William Gandin drives himself to the hospital for cancer treatments.

 

Jimmy Carter isn’t the only nonagenarian to withstand rigorous medical treatment. Very old age is no longer an automatic barrier for aggressive therapies, from cancer care like the former president has received, to major heart procedures, joint replacements and even some organ transplants.

 

In many cases, the most senior citizens are getting the same treatments given to people their grandchildren’s age — but with different goals.

 

“Many elderly patients don’t necessarily want a lot of years, what they want is quality of life,” said Dr. Clifford Kavinsky, a heart specialist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “They want whatever time is left for them to be high quality. They don’t want to be dependent on their family. They don’t want to end up in a nursing home.”

The article makes the point that “some 90-year-olds” are fitter than some 60-year-olds” and that age alone should not be the deciding factor.  Indeed, in my own family we have faced major surgery questions with both my father and, more recently, my mother, and the result was a “different” decision in each instance, based on a whole host of factors.  These can be tough calls.