December 27, 2019: Among Americans dying of natural causes, 31% passed away at home while 30% took their last breath in a hospital. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, that’s the first time in 50 years more people died at home.[1]
The data cited is from 2017, the most recent year available. Just over 20% died in a nursing facility that year. Slightly fewer than 10% passed away in a hospice facility.[1]
Researchers believe that we are likely to see a growing number of people heading home to die. “'There has been a kind of cultural shift that has romanticized dying at home and made it the only way to die,' said Carol Levine, an ethicist at the United Hospital Fund in New York."[1]
In earlier times, it was normal for people who died of natural causes to do so at home. By the 1950s, however, that changed and hospitals were the primary location. In the 1970s, at least two-thirds died in a hospital.[1]
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