Nationally,
only 25 percent of deaths occur at home, although more than
70 percent of Americans say they would prefer to die there.
About half
of all deaths occur in hospitals, but less than 60 percent of
the hospitals in any state offer hospice care or palliative
care services.
Although
care in an intensive care unit is often unwanted and uncomfortable
at the end of life, between 16 and 37 percent of Medicare dependents
in any given state had an ICU stay in the last six months of
life.
In any
given state, at least one in four nursing home residents experienced
pain for at least two months without appropriate management.
Experts
agree that up to 95 percent of serious pain can be effectively
treated, but half of all dying people still experience pain.
The state
average of US primary care physicians certified in palliative
care is 0.33 percent (Illinois ranked in the 0.22-0.36 percent
range); the average percentage of nurses certified in hospice
and palliative care is 0.41 percent.
The percentage
of deaths that include a hospice stay varies from five percent
to 42 percent. In most states, only 12 to 25 percent of deaths
included a hospice stay.
Experts
agree that patients need at least 60 days of hospice care to
maximize its benefits. But hospice stays ranged from 14 to 43
days per state.
