Let terminally ill patients die at home – report

euthanasia - dying without dignityThe Independent 22 May 2015
Terminally ill patients must be granted the right to spend their last days at home, leading charities and a former health minister have said, in light of a harrowing report that lays bare the damage done by poor care at the end of life.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report published today details some of the worst cases investigated by the watchdog in the past four years.

It has led to renewed calls for the Government to introduce free social care at home at the end of life – sparing dying people from ending their days in hospital, often without specialist palliative care support.

Families seeking free care for a dying relative currently face a complex process of means-testing. In a recent survey of attitudes to dying, two-thirds of  those questioned said they would prefer to end their life at home, but the UK still has some of the highest rates of hospital death among older people in Europe.

It is widely accepted that hospital wards are rarely the best place for a patient, once it is clear that they are dying. However, more than half of deaths still occur in hospital.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/terminally-ill-patients-should-be-given-the-right-to-die-at-home-says-harrowing-report-10262040.html

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