Hospitalization costs explode with terminal heart patients: Alberta study

"A new study examining the high cost of dying in Alberta - the first of its kind in Canada - suggests the final weeks of the lives of terminal cardiac patients cost the health system more than five times the per-capita cost of health care in the province, most of it due to hospitalization. The numbers, according to contributing author and University of Alberta cardiologist Justin Ezekowitz, point to the need for a broader dialogue about how victims of terminal heart conditions wish to spend their remaining days. "Rather than dying in ICU setting or in hospital, where would you prefer to die? Planning ahead is key," Ezekowitz said. The article, in the current edition of Archives of Internal Medicine, examined the end-of-life costs among heart failure patients 65 years and older in Alberta