Cancer patients overtreated in final days, study finds

Philly.Com  By Stacey Burling, Inquirer Staff Writer  Posted: September 19, 2013  While most older people say they don’t want aggressive care at the end of life, many get it anyway.  Care in the last month of life for Medicare patients with advanced cancer typically is even more aggressive in the Philadelphia area than in the nation as a whole, concludes a report from the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which studies regional differences in care. It released a report last week that showed the percentage of cancer patients who died in hospitals in 2010, or were hospitalized or in an intensive care unit in their last month.  Read more