Older adults' attitudes to death, palliative treatment and hospice care

Palliative Medicine. 19, 5, 402-410. There is evidence that cancer patients who receive care from hospice and specialist palliative care services in the UK are younger than those who do not receive care. This survey compared the views of people aged 55 to 74 with the views of those aged over 75. People over 75 believed it was easier for older people to face death, but they did not believe that younger people deserved more consideration than older people when they were dying or that they should have priority for hospice care. When asked where they would like to be cared for, participants generally preferred hospice to home. The authors point out that this runs contrary to the increasing emphasis of many inpatient hospices on short-term admissions for symptom control rather than on admissions for terminal care.