Cancer treatment, intervention not rejected by older adults: study

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The elderly, contrary to accepted belief, would want to take their chances of undergoing a potentially life-saving surgery, despite their age and health, just like their younger counterpart would want to, according to a new study by the Macmillan Cancer Support.

The charity group reiterated this fact amid reports of a number of pensioners being denied of the option to have cancer surgical treatments. Findings showT that only 12 percent of older patients beyond the age of 75 rejected this treatment, while more than 14 percent of the younger cancer patients refused it, according to an article from the Press Reader. The data involves more than 1,000 cancer patients.

"Our research shows that someone's age doesn't affect how likely they are to want cancer treatment. We found that even people in their 80s and 90s are just as likely to want life extending or saving treatment as those in their 50s," said Jagtar Dhanda, head of inclusion at Macmillan Cancer Support.

He pointed out the sad reality for patients older than 65 in England are less likely to receive treatment. And, this is the very reason why the rate of survival among older patients in the country is lower than those from the neighboring European countries. Dhanda said that this must not be the case and people should demand for a change.

In a report from the Telegraph, it was noted that older women in Britain are three times more likely to die from breast cancer because of this unacceptable high number of age-related NHS discrimination, as compared to other European countries. This kind of discrimination result to the shortening of the life span of a large number of elderly women in the country, the experts warned.

Because of the lack of proper assessment, a lot of doctors are simply making the assumptions that the patients who are older cannot undergo the treatment because their body may not be as strong as they were before. This is the reason a lot of older patients are denied of the much-needed surgical operations and other forms of treatment that may potentially spell the difference between life and death.

"It means staff can be left to make decisions about whether an older person is suitable for treatment without all the information they need. Because of this, decisions end up being based on a patient's age rather than their physical capacity or desire to receive treatment," Dhanda also added.