When death comes: where should patients die?

Abstract

This study examines demographic, medical, and psychosocial variables in relation to preference regarding place of death on the part of 171 patients and their families treated at the Home Care Unit of the Oncology Department at Linn Clinic in Haifa, Israel, in 1992-93. Women who had breast cancer, and patients aged 50-59 with few mobility problems, preferred to die at home. Families with support from an extended family and those who communicated with the patients about the illness preferred to treat the patients at home. The patient's age, type of cancer, communication about dying, and the number of days hospitalized affected the place of death. Patients with prostate and brain cancer and patients aged 60 and older spent the most time (1-3 weeks) in a nursing home and tended to die there. Patients who were in a hospice tended to speak less about death than other patients.