3 ms·
A healthy person, absolutely if he is 30 years old. Now how will you handle the healthy 80 yo patient? Will you take the risk of a bacterial infection that may
by rscho 10y ago
A healthy person, absolutely if he is 30 years old. Now how will you handle the healthy 80 yo patient? Will you take the risk of a bacterial infection that may kill him, although he is now perfectly healthy and still doing hiking on a regular basis? Now what, if he is 1 year old?
I think you underestimate the potential impact of common infections. This is a grey zone. There is no correct answer. Everything depends on where you put your safety/futility cutoff for the treatment decision, which is what doctors are paid for.
- mst 10y agoHad my father made it to 80, I strongly suspect he'd've wanted to take the risk to help preserve the antibiotics for younger people. Of course this doesn't necessarily generalise, but there's plenty of older english people with the "I don't want to be a bother" mindset so it might do better than you think.
- srssays 10y agoI don't agree with the premise. It's hospital-acquired pneumonia that is the greatest concern and the biggest incubator for resistance. There's really no need for GPs to withhold antibiotics from at-risk groups to take at home.