Abstract

KIE: Schiedermayer discusses the findings of Taffet, et al., published in this issue of JAMA, concerning the outcomes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in a population of aged patients in the Houston Veterans Administration Medical Center. He contrasts the conclusion reached by the authors of the Houston study, that it was their clinical impression "that a majority of [their] geriatric patients were not living to discharge after CPR," with the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment's review of CPR in the elderly. The OTA report cited eight studies to support its conclusion that age is not a reliable predictor of the long-term outcome of resuscitation. Scheidermayer urges that the data from the Taffet study should be used in conjunction with the OTA data as the basis for discussions among physicians, patients, and families about CPR, not as the rationale for a more paternalistic approach to do-not-resuscitate orders decided unilaterally by the physician.