Don’t go to hospital for a “good death”

Only a minority of people who die in hospital have a good death, according to nurses questioned in a large survey of hospital deaths in France. Three quarters of the patients in the survey died without friends or family at the bedside (2868/3793), and 16% (612/3793) died completely alone. Most patients had respiratory distress in the hours before death (70%, 2659/3793), although nurses reported that only a minority were in pain (12%, 455/3793). Just a third had the kind of death that nurses would want for themselves or their relatives (35%, 1332/3793). Good pain control, the presence of family or friends, a written protocol for end of life decisions, and a meeting between staff and relatives after a death were among the factors most strongly associated with an acceptable death in this study. Just under half of the deaths were expected.

Researchers surveyed nearly 4000 deaths in 200 hospitals throughout France. They found important deficiencies in the end of life experiences of …