Emily Johnston on End-of-Life Care Differences Between Older and Younger Patients

Emily Johnston, MD, fellow at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, discusses the differences between end-of-life care in adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients and older patients with cancer.

In older patients, it is generally accepted that that more intense end-of-life care means lower quality of life. However, Johnston did not see the same thing for AYA patients, especially for children, where health care providers seem to be more concerned with making the family comfortable by trying more intense care for the patient.