Nontreatment of hip fractures in senile patients
L. J. Lyon and M. A. Nevins
Five elderly patients with hip fractures were deemed unsuited for surgical
repair because of severe organic mental syndromes. All survived the
postfracture period without the morbidity of decubitus ulcers and pulmonary
complications, or the pain, mental anguish, and expense of hospitalization
and surgery. Surgical repair of a hip fracture is not necessarily a
mandatory or life-saving procedure. For patients unlikely to walk again,
nonoperative management is a reasonable alternative--provided good nursing
care is available.
