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Previous Volume 330:540-544 February 24, 1994 Number 8 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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For more than a decade, health policy analysts have noted -- and some have decried -- the high cost of dying^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7}. With the acceleration of pressures on health care costs and calls for reform, considerably more attention has been focused on proposals to control costs at the end of life⁸. One proposal would require persons enrolling in a health care plan to complete an advance directive^9,10. Others would require hospitals to establish guidelines to identify and reduce futile care^11,12,13. Similar ideas have been expressed by members of President Bill Clinton's Health Care Task Force and by . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Cost at the End of Life and Reasons for Cost Control

Advance Directives for Health Care and Cost Savings

Hospice Care and Cost Savings

Futile Care and Cost Savings

Can We Save Any Money on Care at the End of Life?

Why Is There Not Much Money to Be Saved at the End of Life?

Conclusions

Source Information

From the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Control, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (E.J.E.), and the Division of Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School (E.J.E., L.L.E.), both in Boston.

Address reprint requests to Dr. E. Emanuel at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Control, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney St., Boston, MA 02115.

References

Related Letters:

Cost Savings at the End of Life
Mahoney J. J., Singer P. A., Lowy F. H., Hilberman M., Mitchell A., Stroud C. E., Carroll W. D., Emanuel E. J., Emanuel L. L.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1994; 331:477-479, Aug 18, 1994. Correspondence

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