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  • During the second half of the twentieth century, the world’s outlook on end of life care

  • began to change. Traditionally, doctors have focused on curing illness or injury, rather

  • than providing non curative pain management, and end of life care. Today, administering

  • pain relieving drugs like morphine has gone from being a “last resortto what some

  • call a “gold standard”. But not every country has made progress. So we wanted to

  • know, if given the choice, where is the best place to die?

  • Well, as the average life expectancy continues to rise, more people are dying from terminal

  • or chronic illnesses. Meanwhile, many doctors have refused to prescribe pain medication;

  • fearing addiction or euphoria. But times have changed, and now, healthcare systems have

  • revised their end-of-life care to better address a patient’s life quality rather than simply

  • its length. This form of pain management is known as palliative care, which is distinguished

  • from curative care.

  • In 2015, the Economist released a Quality of Death Index. They found that wealthy countries

  • have the highest quality of death, and also tend to subsidize related care. The Index

  • also ranked countries where doctors had easier access to opiate pain relievers higher than

  • in countries where their use was stigmatized or limited. They also found that it was important

  • that public perceptions did not demonize people for seeking palliative care over curative

  • care.

  • First on the list was Britain. This was particularly the result of palliative care being integrated

  • into their National Health Service, and seeing compassionate support in both the private

  • and public sectors. Widely available hospice care also contributed to the UK scoring highly.

  • Similarly wealthy countries, Australia and New Zealand, ranked second and third for many

  • of the same reasons.

  • Other countries ranking highly are Asia-Pacific countries, like Taiwan, Singapore, Japan,

  • and South Korea. A large elderly population, coupled with increased pain prevention at

  • earlier stages of treatment, has helped raise their ranking worldwide.

  • However, countries like China are seeing a huge discrepancy between supply and demand

  • of palliative care. Although there are roughly 400 cancer hospitals able to provide necessary

  • care, less than 1% of the population has access to them. Additionally, there are no national

  • guidelines, opiate availability is very limited, and healthcare costs are extremely high. Public

  • subsidies often do not significantly cover treatment costs. At the same time, China’s

  • elderly population keeps growing and growing, with a relatively small youth population to

  • take care of them.

  • Globally, less than 10% of people who need end-of-life care are able to receive it. Although

  • wealthy nations top the list of countries to die in, advancements in public awareness,

  • as well as governmental guidelines and healthcare, have seen poorer nations provide better and

  • better options to standard curative solutions.

  • Death is a complicated phenomenon, garnering a ton of questions, likewhat happens after

  • I die?” andwhat does death smell like?” To get an answer to the second question, check

  • out this DNews video! If youre like other people intrigued by death, TestTube Plus did

  • a whole series about it. Check it out, and maybe learn how to beat death altogether.

  • Thanks for watching TestTube News! Don’t forget to like and subscribe for new videos

  • every day.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the world’s outlook on end of life care

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