- Most Americans die due to chronic illnesses.
- Modern medicine has increased longevity. As a result, most Americans will live for many years with a chronic illness before they die.
- Hospitals are the most common site of death followed by nursing home units.
- Deaths in nursing home units are expected to double in the next two decades.
- Many dying patients receive aggressive and often futile therapeutic interventions in the last weeks of life.
- Physicians often misunderstood patient preferences, especially when patients did not want high-technology, life-extending care.
- Almost 1 in 2 patients who die in hospitals and 1 in 4 patients who die in nursing homes die in significant pain.
- Most dying patients experience many distressing symptoms that can be alleviated with skilled palliative care.
- Family members express dissatisfaction with end-of-life care received by their loved ones.
- Appropriate provision of palliative care (early in the illness trajectory) and hospice care (in the last 6 months of life) can significantly improve care of patients with serious illnesses.
Physician Assisted Death: Real Stories
Dr. W. Richard Scott, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology, shares a very personal story of the last stages of life of his beloved brother Charles Scott.
Learn about the finer points of the Aid in Dying law in our new module on Physician Assisted Death.
Get Skilled: Cross Cultural Medicine
As medicine becomes more complex and specialized by the minute, the communication gulf between doctors and their patients is becoming progressively insurmountable.
Become skilled in providing culturally effective care:
- Download step by step guide to working with medical interpreters.
- Watch the microlecture series on Cross Cultural Medicine
PBS: Letter Project
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