Recounts of elderly deaths: endorsements for the Patient Self-Determination Act

Circumstances in the last 3 days of life were examined for a sample of 1,227 elderly decedents in Fairfield County, Connecticut, in 1985. Interviews were with a surviving next-of-kin or a nonrelative about 3 months after the event of death. Most decedents were in a hospital or a nursing home the night before death (45% and 24%, respectively). In the days preceding death, about 34% of the decedents knew that death was impending and about 40% had difficulty recognizing family members. These and other findings support the need for elderly people to complete advance directives.