Issues of institutionalization: five percent fallacies and terminal care

Place-of-death data are analyzed for King County, Washington (1971) and Whatcom County, Washington (1971, 1975, 1978), allowing comparisons with previous studies on "the five percent fallacy." The King County findings agree with past research on a major metropolitan area. For large urban areas, sex is found to be a significant correlate of place of death for whites (but not nonwhites), and race is found significant for females (but not males). Whatcom County data differ from earlier findings on a smaller geographic area. Changes in place-of-death distributions over time for Whatcom County are noted. Explanations are proferred for differences between the current data and past research, and for changes observed over time in one location. The implications of the findings for nursing homes and other extended care facilities, hospitals, health and old-age agencies, and the elderly themselves are discussed.