Letter

Turning old age into a disease?

Older people are undertreated as much as they are overtreated

BMJ 2009; 338 doi: 10.1136/bmj.b1200 (Published 23 March 2009)
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1200

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  1. David Oliver, senior lecturer, geriatric medicine1
  1. 1University of Reading, School of Health and Social Care, Reading RG6 1HY
  1. d.oliver{at}reading.ac.uk

    As a geriatrician, I see daily the iatrogenic effects of overtreatment of older patients that is partly driven by a box ticking, target oriented culture.1 People are taking drugs they no longer need or may never have needed or that haven’t been meaningfully reviewed for some time, despite the …

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