(HealthDay News) -- End-of-life discussions between a doctor and a terminally ill patient do not result in more distress for patients. In fact, they result in less aggressive medical interventions and enhanced quality of life in a patient's final days, a major new study found.

(HealthDay News) -- Elderly Americans who live in low-income ZIP codes are more likely to die after surgery than those who live in higher-income ZIP codes, according to new research.

The study analyzed death rates among more than one million older adults who had one of six common high-risk heart or cancer surgeries between 1999 and 2003.

The risk of death was between 17 percent and 39 percent higher for patients in low-income ZIP codes, mainly because the quality of care is lower at hospitals in lower socioeconomic areas, the study authors said.

Last night a great neighbor of mine has passed away from an aneurysm in his stomach that occurred one week ago. He had a lot of internal bleeding and they provided him with a tube in order to withdraw the blood from his stomach. Well, late last night, he suffered a major heart attack and did not make it through. He was 67 years old and the most talented man you had ever met. Whatever you needed, he was certainly there.

FRIDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- As food-safety problems continue to rock the United States, resulting in massive recalls, illness and even death, the federal Food and Drug Administration remains underfunded and understaffed to protect consumers, a new government report concludes.

The report, released Friday by the Congressional General Accountability Office (GAO), found that the FDA lacks the inspectors, staffers and scientists to safeguard the food supply, particularly fresh produce.

Diabetics who tightly control their blood sugar — even if only for the first decade after they are diagnosed — have lower risks of heart attack, death and other complications 10 or more years later, a large follow-up study has found.

The discovery of this "legacy effect" may put new emphasis on rigorous treatment when people first learn they have Type 2 diabetes, the most common form and the type linked to obesity.

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I think most of us have heard the expression 'survivor guilt' - that feeling of guilt or some kind of culpability when we survive an accident that killed or badly harmed someone else.

Holocaust and genocides, including the Nazi era and others (Rwanda, Kurdistan, Darfur to name just a few) have also produced much survivor guilt.

THURSDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- When elderly patients complain they have a lack of energy, doctors shouldn't dismiss it as a normal part of aging, say researchers who found that lack of energy (anergia) is associated with several health problems and higher rates of hospitalization and death.

The study of more than 2,100 New York City residents, ages 65 to 104, found that almost one in five reported so little energy, they spent most of the day sitting on the sofa.

TUESDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The latest update from a European study that has followed men with prostate cancer for more than a decade leaves the debate about the advantages of aggressive treatment versus "watchful waiting" undecided.

The advantage in survival seen for men who underwent surgery to remove the prostate disappeared after 10 years. While deaths attributed to cancer continued to be lower among those having surgery, the overall death rate for both groups was the same, according to the researchers with the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group.

MONDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- It may, in fact, be possible to outrun death -- and even the creeping ravages of time -- at least for a while.

Research spanning two decades has found that older runners live longer and suffer fewer disabilities than healthy non-runners.

And the findings probably apply to a variety of aerobic exercises, including walking, said the study authors, from Stanford University School of Medicine, whose findings are published in the Aug. 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

FRIDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- The interrupted nighttime breathing of sleep apnea appears to increase the risk of dying, Australian researchers report.

Earlier studies have linked sleep apnea to increased risk for death. However, these studies were done in sleep centers rather than in the general community. This new study suggests that the risk is present among all people with obstructive sleep apnea.