[BETTY] ROLLIN: Our medical system can\u2019t keep everyone healthy, but it excels at keeping people alive, which is expensive. Twenty-five percent of all Medicare spending is for the 10 percent of patients who are in their final year of life. For the year 2012 alone, that\u2019s expected to be $137 billion. Most of the money is spent in the last 6 months of life, which is often of little benefit, if any, to the patient. And the conversations between patients and doctors and family members which might make a difference, Dr. Forrow says, aren\u2019t happening, partly because people are afraid to talk about death and because the part of the Obama health care reform plan, which would have reimbursed doctors for these conversations, was shot down.<\/p>\n
DR. [LACHLAN] FORROW: Cheap, political, inflammatory comments like \u201cdeath panels\u201d\u009d and \u201cpulling the plug on grandma\u201d\u009d for cheap political points have terrified the American people in a way that I think\u201d\u201dI think that\u2019s immoral.<\/p>\n
ROLLIN: Dr. Susan Mitchell, who has studied advance dementia in nursing home patients, has found that even though these patients can be treated and kept more comfortable in a nursing home, they are often hospitalized where they receive aggressive and sometimes painful treatment that is covered by Medicare.<\/p>\n