Conducted retrospective study of 82 elderly "failure to thrive" (FTT) inpatients. Findings suggest FTT diagnosis when patient's functional ability to live with multisystem diseases, cope with ensuing problems, and manage own care are remarkably diminished and no longer responsive to health care interventions. Attempt to clarify clinical picture of FTT used standardized questionnaires to abstract data from medical charts. (Author/NB)