Racial Differences in the Decision to Revoke Hospice Care

Pallimed's Drew Rosielle, MD, writes about a recent article from the Archives of Internal Medicine, which examined data from 167,000 patients being served by a multi-state hospice group over a five year period. The patients included in the study left hospice care while still alive, a small percentage of whom went on to pursue aggressive treatment. The interesting note, is that African-Americans had 70% higher odds of making the decision to pursue aggressive care than whites.