ArticleInquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing
The "Elderly" in Medicine: Ethical Issues Surrounding This Outdated and Discriminatory Term.
Article in Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Ethics and healthcare in the older adult population.Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate and describe how the use of the term "elderly" contributes to bias and problems within the medical system. A systematic review of the relevant literature and history was conducted. The term "elderly" does not define age accurately and carries bias and prejudice that lead to harm through discriminatory practices, institutional prejudices, and "ageist" policies in society and medicine. Doctors and healthcare providers seldom intentionally try to harm any patient, but might do so through unconscious anti-elderly bias. Studies indicate that medical students already demonstrate anti-elderly bias; researchers may lump patients aged 65 and over together, confounding specific information needed for individualized treatments; and out of unwarranted concern, medical and surgical treatments may be denied, despite minimal increased risk of mortality. When the cost of healthcare rises, it is the elderly against whom rationing is suggested. The term "elderly" has no place in medicine. Anti-elderly health care rationing is as unethical as rationing targeted against any group. It is reverse paternalism to make rules that limit others' medical care, happiness, and life span without their consent. Medicine is the science and art of individual communication, evaluation and treatment. Once we deny care to any one group, we open the door to denial to others.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.