http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio4/open- ... nburgh.pdf
And there have been many studies like this, but the most
rigorous one was done at the Massachusetts General Hospital and they took patients with Stage
IV lung cancer. So this is incurable lung cancer; the patients lived on average just 11 months.
Half of the patients got usual oncology care and the other half got usual oncology care plus saw a
palliative care physician who would discuss with them what their priorities and goals might be
for the end of life. Now the group who had that discussion ended up choosing to stop
chemotherapy sooner. They were much less likely to go onto the fourth round of chemotherapy,
in fact had one third less chemotherapy costs. They had one third fewer days in the hospital.
They were much less likely to die in the hospital or in the intensive care unit. They started
hospice earlier. They had less suffering at the end of life. And the kicker was they lived 25 per cent longer. If this were a drug, it would be a multi-billion dollar drug and we wouldn’t be asking
oh could we afford it, how is this going to be possible? But you know in truth it isn’t even a
matter of affording. These are basic skills around having conversations that enabled a win-win
situation.