Abstract
The attitudes to high technology medicine of advocates for the elderly are sometimes confused and conflicting. Believing that one reason for the inadequate provision of long-term care for the elderly is overprovision of high technology medicine, some urge a transfer of resources from the acute sector hospitals. The assumption that high technology is mostly used for younger patients overlooks the appropriate need that many elderly patients have for acute medical care. A policy that led to stricter rationing of high technology could disadvantage the elderly by limiting their access to necessary treatment, because when there is rationing, advanced age is a readily applied and widely accepted criterion for exclusion (Jennett, 1987a).
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Jennett, B. (1988). The Elderly and High Technology Therapies. In: Wells, N., Freer, C. (eds) The Ageing Population. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19093-5_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19093-5_12
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