Designing for the Life Span Segment 4
Designing for the Life Span Segment 4 
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The increased vulnerability that comes with illness is a factor in the sustainable health of older people. While direct causal relationships cannot be established, nevertheless, the changes and the effects are measurable.
"Hospitals should be avoided like the plague unless absolutely essential."
Morton Creditor, MD.
University of Kansas Medical Center.
In the statement above, Dr. Creditor reflected on his own study showing that patients past the age of 75 experience declines in health as a result of hospital stays.
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There is conflicting evidence about the effectiveness of health care institutions in sustaining life and maintaining independence. In this text slide, there is a quote from a physician as a reaction to the results from his study showing actual decline in health for older people who experience hospital stays. Still other studies have shown that when there are hospital closings in specific locales, death rates decline over the period of the closing. On the other hand, long term care has been shown to sustain life for those chronically ill. Meeting the needs of age and disability is an issue that must be dealt with one individual at a time.
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