Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
More Americans Are Dying at Home Rather Than in Hospitals
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
December 15, 2019

Share

For the first time since the early 1900s, more Americans are dying at home rather than in hospitals, a trend that reflects more hospice care and progress toward the kind of end that most people say they want.
Deaths in nursing homes also have declined, according to Wednesday’s report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“I made him exactly what he wanted to eat, whenever he wanted it. He had a scotch every night, he had a very high quality of life. If he woke up at 2 o’clock in the morning and wanted to have coffee and pie, that’s what we did.” — Betsy McNair, a tour guide who now lives in Mexico
“It’s a good thing. Death has become overly medicalized over the last century” and this shows a turn away from that, said the lead author, Dr. Haider Warraich of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
Betsy McNair, a tour guide who now lives in Mexico, is proud of the ending she helped give her father. Robert McNair was 83 when he died at home in Belle Haven, Virginia, in 2009, six weeks after learning he had lung cancer.
“I made him exactly what he wanted to eat, whenever he wanted it. He had a scotch every night, he had a very high quality of life. If he woke up at 2 o’clock in the morning and wanted to have coffee and pie, that’s what we did,” she said.
Warraich and Duke University graduate student Sarah Cross used government health statistics on deaths from natural causes, rather than accidents or homicides, from 2003 through 2017. The portion that occurred in hospitals fell from 40% to 30% over that period and in nursing homes from 24% to 21%.

The Type of Illness Matters

Deaths in homes rose, from 24% to 31%. Some assisted living centers may have been counted as homes; researchers had no way to tell.
People who were younger, female or a racial or ethnic minority were less likely to die at home than those who were older, male or white. Cancer patients were more likely to die at home; people with dementia, in a nursing home, and people with lung diseases, in a hospital.
The type of illness matters, McNair said. Besides her father, she helped care for a brother who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in his 50s, and her mother, who died at age 92 in a nursing home after a long decline in health.
“They were all completely different experiences,” and sometimes it’s not possible to adequately care for a family member at home, McNair said.
Allison Beach and her husband struggled to figure out how to get help for her mother, Kathryne Beach, who lived with them for three years before dying at their home in Hinesburg, Vermont, in 2016. She had lost her vision, had suffered a fall and then succumbed to heart failure at age 91.

Photo of Kathryne Beach shrouded inside her family's home following her death in Hinesburg, Vt.
In this 2016 photo provided by Thomas Marrinson, Kathryne Beach lays shrouded inside her family’s home following her death in Hinesburg, Vt. Allison Beach and her husband struggled to figure out how to get help for her mother, who lived with them for three years before dying at their home Hinesburg, Vermont, in 2016. The experience led Beach, who was a nurse, to seek special training in end-of-life care and has become a doula, hoping to help others in such circumstances. (Thomas Marrinson via AP)

The Rise of Home Hospice Services Has Helped

“We had to really reshuffle our lives. I was determined not to put her into a facility,” Beach said. “We were alone with her at the time of death and I wish we had had more support.”

“I have met many patients who just want to spend one day at home, around their dog, in their bed, able to eat home food.” — Dr. Haider Warraich of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System 
The experience led Beach, who was a nurse, to seek special training in end-of-life care, hoping to help others in such circumstances.
The rise of home hospice services has helped more people spend their last days at home, Warraich said.
“I have met many patients who just want to spend one day at home, around their dog, in their bed, able to eat home food,” he said.
People are not only living longer, but they’re often spending more years at the end of life with chronic illnesses.
“Ideally we’d like to see people live longer and with fewer disabilities,” he said. “We have work to do there.”

DON'T MISS

Caitlin Clark and Iowa Draw Nearly 5 Million Viewers for Second-Round NCAA Win

DON'T MISS

Canadian School Boards Sue Snapchat, TikTok and Meta for Disrupting Students’ Education

DON'T MISS

California Law Enforcement Agencies Obstruct Transparency Efforts in Use-of-Force Cases

DON'T MISS

No Police Charges for Taylor Swift’s Dad Over Paparazzi Incident in Sydney

DON'T MISS

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

DON'T MISS

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

DON'T MISS

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

No data was found

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

14 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

14 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

14 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

14 hours ago

How Involved Is Southern California Consulting Firm in FUSD Executive Dealings?

14 hours ago

Biden’s Fundraiser with Obama and Clinton Nets a Record $25 Million, His Campaign Says

15 hours ago

Fresno Unified’s Self-Protection Racket Is Hurting Our Kids

15 hours ago

Rockin’ Out or Laughing, the Valley Has Its Pick of Weekend Events

16 hours ago

Ex-Correctional Officer at Women’s Prison in California Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Inmates

18 hours ago

Caitlin Clark and Iowa Draw Nearly 5 Million Viewers for Second-Round NCAA Win

18 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Riverside Golf Course Introduces Military Veterans to the Game

PGA HOPE, now underway at Fresno’s Riverside Golf Course, is designed to introduce golf to veterans and active duty military members t...

12 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Fresno's Riverside Golf Course
12 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Riverside Golf Course Introduces Military Veterans to the Game

13 hours ago

Cronenworth’s Big Hit Helps Lift the Padres to a 6-4 Win Over Melvin’s Giants

13 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Reaches 3 Times in Home Debut as the Dodgers Rout the Cardinals 7-1

14 hours ago

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

14 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

14 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

14 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

14 hours ago

How Involved Is Southern California Consulting Firm in FUSD Executive Dealings?

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend