Are we living too long?

Breakthroughs, life-saving treatments add years to our lives

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Today, from innovative surgeries to potent drugs to high-tech machines, there are more ways to keep us alive than ever before.  Judy Lucas knows.  Her husband of 39 years, George Lucas, was told he had fatal pancreatic cancer.

"We were shocked, absolutely shocked," said Judy.


"He finally said, 'that's it,'" Judy said.

George decided he wanted to die with his loved ones by his side and without harsh treatments wearing him down.  It's a manner of death Dr. Ken Murray says most physicians would choose themselves.

"These things, I think most doctors don't look at as prolonging life. They look at it as prolonging death," explained Murray, who wrote How Doctors Die.


"We know how terrible the results are from CPR," Murray said. "I've done it hundreds of times, and I can count on one hand the people who actually did ok."


"People are sicker now before they die than at any time in human history," said Ira Byock, M.D., a palliative care specialist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and author of The Best Care Possible.

He says dying is becoming harder for patients and their families.

"The fact is there are worse things than having someone you love die. Most basically, it's having the person you love die badly," said Byock.


"Don't make an assumption for example that an 80 year old can't benefit and tolerate standard therapy for a given cancer," said Klepin, M.D., MS, an assistant professor of internal medicine hematology and oncology at Wake Forest Baptist Health.



"The doctor that we had at that time said to come home and enjoy what we had," said Barbara Owen, Bill's wife.

Bill got a second opinion and five years after chemo and radiation he's going strong. The right treatment saved his life.

"I still go all day long," said Bill.


"You get the chance to say things about loving, and yeah, it's been good," an emotional Judy said.

Aggressive treatment at the end of life is also expensive. It can cost up to $10,000 a day to maintain someone in ICU. By law, Medicare cannot reject any treatment based on cost.
