Not only do people typically want to die at home, but their loved ones would prefer to see them die in their own bed, rather than in a hospital.
According to a new study published in JAMA, people report much greater satisfaction with end-of-life care for a relative if it took place at home or in a hospice facility, rather than in an intensive care unit.
For the study, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute interviewed 1,146 members of families that had lost somebody to either advanced lung cancer or colorectal cancer in the past year.
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Just over half (51.3 percent) of those surveyed reported that their relative received "excellent" care.
However, those whose relatives had received at least three days of hospice care were significantly more likely to report "excellent" care –– 58 percent compared to 43 percent.
Of those whose relatives were admitted to the ICU within 30 days of death, 45 percent reported excellent care, compared to 52 percent of those whose relatives did not receive ICU care.
While only 40 percent of those whose deceased relative spent less than three days in hospice care reported that their loved one died in their "preferred location," nearly 73 percent of those whose relatives did said the same.
The study's author, Dr. Alexi Wright, a researcher and gynecological oncologist in the Susan F. Smith Center for Women's Cancers at Dana-Farber, said the survey underscored the importance of patients, families and doctors planning for a death in accordance with a patient's preferences.
"Our study findings are a powerful argument for the importance of advance care planning," Wright said in a JAMA press release. "The more information patients have, the more likely they are to receive the kind of medical care they want near death. And patients' deaths influence family members' perceptions of their quality of care."
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