Life-Sustaining Technologies and the Elderly (Part 15 of 21)

Future developments in life-sustaining technologies will improve existing technologies and create new therapies and devices to treat currently untreatable conditions. Technological improvements should make treatments more effective, more comfortable, more portable, cheaper, less invasive, or some combination of these factors. These improvements may change how often and under what circumstances certain life-sustaining technologies are used, and they may contribute to changing attitudes about appropriate care. However, fundamental questions of access to and quality of care, cost, quality of life, and decisionmaking will remain even as the technologies change. This appendix describes the general directions of current research and development, both in the public and the private sectors, that are pertinent to the use of life-sustaining technologies for elderly patients. Areas in which basic research is crucial to further progress are highlighted.