Description

The dramatic advances in life-sustaining medical technologies during the past three decades have been accompanied by rapid expansion in their availability and use. As equipment and procedures have been refined and experience accumulated, the necessary personnel, facilities, and reimbursement have expanded, and the clinical criteria guiding use have been broadened. The types of patients who become candidates for lifesustaining treatments have changed, and their numbers have increased sharply. Many of these patients are elderly. As the population ages, as once “extraordinary” measures become commonplace, and as ever-more powerful technologies emerge, it becomes increasingly important to understand the problems as well as the potential associated with the use of these technologies and to devise policies that reflect this understanding.