Studies have shown that approximately 80% of Americans would prefer
to die at home, if possible.
Despite this, 60% of Americans die in acute care hospitals, 20% in
nursing homes and only 20% at home.
A minority of dying patients use hospice care and even those
patients are often referred to hospice only in the last 3-4 weeks of
life.
However, not every patient will want to die at home. Dying at home
is not favored in certain cultures (due to cultural taboos) and some
patients may wish not to die at home, out of concern that they might
be a burden on the family.
Still, it is clear that fewer patients are dying at home than want
to do so.
