title: [I am old and sick, therefore I "exit"?].
abstract: One hundred seventy patients (average age 79.9 years) with preserved cognitive faculties agreed to complete a questionnaire on the costs caused by their health conditions, the guilt they feel due to these costs, and their eventual resort to the Exit association. 48% answered that health care cost too much to the community, 10% reported feeling guilty about the potential costs generated by a consultation with their physician. 98 patients knew about the Exit association: 26% considered that resorting to Exit was a way to reduce health costs, 30% a way to avoid being an economic burden to their family and 34% a way to die with dignity. Our results indicate that economic pressure on medical costs is a source of guilt for older citizens, so much so that one in 10 patients considers resorting to assisted sucide for fear of costing too much to the community.
authors.affiliation: Département de gériatrie du Valais romand, Hôpital du Valais, 1920 Martigny. martial.coutaz@hopitalvs.ch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coutaz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morisod
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D017046:Cost Savings; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D028723:Personhood; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires