Discontinue unnecessary therapy 

Clinicians are often reluctant to stop medications, especially if they did not initiate the treatment and the patient seems to be tolerating the therapy. Sometimes, this exposes the patient to the risks for an adverse event with limited therapeutic benefit. 

The decision to discontinue medication is determined in part by the goals of care for that patient and the risks of adverse effects for that patient. Targets for treatment, based on outcomes evidence from studies in younger patients, may not be appropriate for older adults ; thus clinical guidelines not targeted to older patients may foster overly-aggressive goals for management of hypertension or diabetes in the older adult population.

Some preventive and other therapies may no longer be beneficial to patients with short life expectancies . The appropriateness of these therapies should be reconsidered when other medical conditions develop that impact a patient's long-term prognosis, unless the therapies are thought to increase comfort.

There are limited studies about how best to withdraw medications . It is reasonable to gradually taper off most medications to minimize withdrawal reactions and to allow symptom monitoring, unless dangerous signs or symptoms indicate a need for abrupt medication withdrawal. Certain common drugs require tapering, including beta blockers, opioids, barbiturates, clonidine, gabapentin, and antidepressants.