27% of Medicare's budget goes for patients in their final year of life.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by jimhcom

27% of Medicare's annual $327 billion budget goes to care for patients in their final year of life.

The question is can we still afford this kind of expense, and is it right to be spending this much for a hopeless causes when there are more productive ways to spend this money that would be in the better interest of the country and the general welfare of the people.
How could the system be improved.

Voluntary Termination Centers! If enough of us chose this route one might be able to make a miraclous new protein food additive and banish world hunger and even create new jobs.

[ncole1]

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

I don't see how that matters. What needs to be figured out is how much is a human life worth? (...)

A human life is worth the minimum marginal cost of saving a human life, all else equal.

If (for example) $100 million more of medical research funding can lead to 50,000 lives saved every year starting in 7 years, rather than starting in 20 years without that extra funding, then it costs $153.85 per saved life to fund the research. If the research required $10 billion, this increases to $15,385.

It is absurd to spend $100,000 to prolong the life of a 93-year-old hooked up to tubes and a ventilator when you can save many many lives for the same money by investing in medical research.

If you funded the same cost of medical research *instead of* the life support, you would basically be netting a large number of saved lives for free.

And this doesn't even account for the fact that in many cases, a cut in military budget could actually save lives for a cost less than zero (i.e. stop killing people.....)

The fact that there isn't more outrage over this means one thing: this country is F'ed up beyond hope.

[Boss]

Originally Posted by mwruckman

Voluntary Termination Centers! If enough of us chose this route one might be able to make a miraclous new protein food additive and banish world hunger and even create new jobs.

We can call it Soylent Green.

The living will is needed. I created one after seeing a family member pass on. The family member had his and it saved a lot of problems, as the family followed his wishes and allowed him to pass on with dignity.