The ageing population

To the Editor: I spent a lot of my working life treating patients in an area with an ageing population. I am now elderly and I hear many of my peers complaining bitterly about their doctors. Even if they have a serious illness they are often told, “What can you expect at your age?”. This unhelpful attitude does nothing to alleviate the patients’ concerns.

Often, after some questioning, it may be apparent that these patients have some conditions that are eminently treatable and, without this questioning, may be missed.

With the advances in medicine and surgery, the proportion of elderly people in our population is increasing. “He or she has had a good innings” was a comment that I heard doctors make in the past. But, doctors change their tune as they age, and these platitudes are much less frequently used!

So, in spite of the fact that we are living much longer, with new joints, new transplanted organs, new patent coronary arteries, better means of treating neoplasms, and more exotic investigations to make more exact diagnoses, we must still address our patients in a civil manner, and remember that often the older methods of diagnosis are still important.