As a goal of medical care, quantity of life has value in that this goal motivates our strongest efforts at effective treatment, but it has become increasingly clear that maximum length of life is not the goal that serves the patient best. Accordingly, the focus on mortality and morbidity in health care has been steadily superseded by attention to quality of life (QOL).1 A focus on QOL ensures that the patient’s desires guide health care decisions.

“Quality of life” is a term used extensively in the field of health care; however, QOL encompasses much more than health-related issues. The term was first used when discussing conditions for a good life in human society.2 It soon became clear that medicine and health care played a prominent role in individual and societal QOL, and the term therefore became useful in examining the quality and delivery of health care. Over the...

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