In the United States, the life expectancy of an 80-year-old woman is 9 more years; however, half of these women are likely to live more than 13 years, and the other half are likely to live less than 5 years.1 Given this, nursing home patients presumably have a life expectancy that is shorter than the average. In this issue of JAMA Surgery, Tang et al2 evaluated the 30-day and 1-year mortality and functional decline of nursing home patients after breast cancer surgery (mean [SD] age, 82 [7] years). This cohort of patients had high levels of preoperative comorbidities and functional dependence. The authors found significantly higher rates of 30-day mortality, 1-year mortality, and functional decline in this cohort, and those who were the least functionally independent had the highest mortality rates.