Expert: Paula Damgaard - 5/15/2009

Question
last night our 65 year old woman, who is in the final stages (level 7) was found on the floor with a broken hip at her care facility.  We are trying to make the decision of surgery or not.  Either way it is our understanding that she may never walk again. The question is do we have the surgery or not - which would be best for her?

Answer
Londa, this is a hard decision for sure.  How is her pain?  That is what I would want to know.  I think you should be looking at quality of life for her.  If she is in a lot of pain and fixing the hip would help alleviate that then I would say fix the hip.  If she has no sense of the fracture and is comfortable, then I would ask why put her through major surgery.  Remembering that it is going to be real important to make sure that she gets good skin care since she will now be bedridden and that increases the chances of skin breakdown.  Also the possibility that she could develop pneumonia, which wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily.  Pneumonia used to be the old peoples' friend cause they would get it and die peacefully.  Now we treat them with all these high powered antibiotics and save them.  Forgetting about quality and giving them quantity.

So my advice to you having said all that, is to ask her doctors if doing the surgery is going to improve her quality of life, then proceed, but if they can't promise you that, then tell them you want quality.

Good luck and I hope it works out.  Paula