Hope of palliative care at home falls short for dying Koreans

Only about 8 percent of hospice patients who wanted to spend their final days at home died in their own residences, underscoring the gap between their wishes and practical barriers to dying at home. That gap reflects a surging demand for home deaths that Korea’s hospice system has struggled to meet, constrained by staffing shortages and by the burdensome procedures families must navigate when a death occurs outside a hospital. Last week’s report by the National Assembly Research Service found that the number of new hospice patients has continued to rise each year and most of them prefer to receive care at home. Hospice care provides palliative treatment for terminally ill patients, such as those in their final days with advanced cancer, to enhance their quality of life. It is offered in three forms — inpatient, home-based and consultative, the last providing palliative support to patients in general wards or outpatient clinics through coordinated visits by hospice teams. Patients can receive more than one type of care simultaneously. Nearly 20,000 new patients entered hospice care iWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times