May 31, 2015

Bias In Health Care Denies Appropriate Treatment of Elders




[From article]
Under the proposed Sustainable Development Goals, UN member states will be given targets to cut the number of deaths from diseases like cancer, stroke, diabetes and dementia by one third by 2030.
However because many are age-related illnesses people who succumb to those diseases from the age of 70 are not deemed to have died prematurely and so are not included in the target.
[. . .]
Prof Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, professor of social policy and international development at the University of East Anglia, and lead author of the letter, said: “This premature mortality target is highly unethical, since it unjustifiably discriminates against older people.
“We already know that there is age discrimination in cancer care and surgery and these targets give that the stamp of approval.
“The targets are not quite set in stone yet, so we have a final opportunity to impress upon the UN the need to alter this explicitly ageist health target.
“If this doesn’t happen, people aged 70 and over will become second-class citizens as far as health policy is concerned.”
[. . .]
Last year the Royal College of Surgeons warned that elderly people are being denied life-saving operations because of age discrimination within the NHS.
[. . .]
Tom Gentry, policy advisor at AgeUK said that people were living far longer than in the past, with even the average 70-year-old expected to live for at least another decade.
“We know that access to surgery is getting worse for older people, and yet we are talking about people who still have years left to live,” he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/elder/11637179/Elderly-face-NHS-discrimination-under-new-UN-death-targets.html

Elderly face NHS discrimination under new UN death targets
Elderly people will be treated like second-class citizens and denied medical care under new targets which give priority to saving the lives of young people

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
12:01AM BST 29 May 2015

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