Why? 80% of dying want to die at home...only 17% get to
According to the findings of a Time/CNN survey conducted in 2000 (reported in Time Sept. 18, 2000: John Cloud's "A Kinder, Gentler Death"), "three-quarters of Americans die in some sort of medical institution, and a third of these have spent at least 10 days in an intensive-care unit. But 73 percent of Americans said they would prefer to die at home if they had a choice, while only 13 percent would choose to die in a hospital. The number of people choosing to die at home rose to 80 percent when they were told they were dying and had six months to live. Under those circumstances, 8 in 10 Americans said they would prefer to spend their last days at home while receiving professional care and medication, rather than being in a hospital and receiving traditional care. Although they are promoted as humane and comfortable places to spend the last days of life, hospices care for only 17 percent of dying Americans.'' By the end of 2002, hospice care was offered in less than one-quarter of hospitals. Rough three in ten terminally ill Americans receive hospice care.