Grim Odds For Helpless Elderly Most Suffering Of Those Alone Can Be Prevented, Study Finds

Elderly people found helpless in their homes by paramedics usually never recover enough to live again on their own, a study found.

During two months in 1993, a San Francisco team reviewed all the cases in which people who lived alone were “found down” - unable to get up or call for help. While such incidents are common, little follow-up research has been done on them.

The study in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine examined 387 cases in which paramedics were called, typically because someone noticed that an elderly neighbor’s mail was piling up.

One-quarter of them were found dead, and 5 percent more died in the hospital. Of those who survived, two-thirds ended up living in nursing homes or skilled-nursing units.

“Although some of the people in our study group may have died peacefully at home, most of the cases seem to present deaths or suffering that could have been prevented,” wrote Dr. R. Jan Gurley and others from the University of California at San Francisco.

Many were victims of heart disease, strokes or injuries suffered in falls.