Coming to Grips with End-of-Life Care

At the prestigious 2012 TEDMED conference, organizers identified fifty great challenges of health and medicine.  These are complex and persistent problems that affect great numbers of people.  Delegates voted on these challenges, narrowing them down to just twenty.  




One of the twenty (along with other challenges like "The Obesity Crisis," the "Impact of Poverty on Health," and "Addressing Healthcare Costs") is "Coming to Grips with End-of-Life Care."  Here is the description of this challenge: 

Modern medicine has extended the life expectancies of many terminally ill Americans. In turn, prolonging lives can mean incurring more intensive care and the associated costs.

In 2010, Medicare paid $55 billion for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives. Quality end-of-life care requires balancing the input of doctors, families and patients themselves. And making crucial end-of-life decisions can take physical and emotional tolls on patients and their loved ones.

How should we help people manage end-of-life care choices to maximize individual well-being and minimize social cost?

It is worth noting the criteria to be included as a "Great Challenge."  These are all certainly satisfied by end-of-life care.

•  A Great Challenge is a problem that is big and wide-ranging in impact.


•  A Great Challenge is a problem that is a complex, medical-social issue.


•  A Great Challenge is a problem that is intractable by definition. Since it cannot be solved, it must be managed.


•  A Great Challenge is a problem that is virtually permanent.


•  A Great Challenge is a problem that is fundamental to the health and welfare of the U.S.


•  A Great Challenge ideally involves surprising, thought-provoking framing of an issue. It is “non-directive” and does not assume that a certain solution is “right” or “best” or even possible.