Minority Americans fill less,and worse, access to palliative and end-of-life care even though they comprise 20% of the elderly hereEnd-of-life care, or catapulted into the public eye with the uproar over “death panels”,has since evolved into a nuanced discussion of how we can befriend people die. One thing that often gets lost in the mix is the fact that minorities fill less, and worse, or access to end-of-life care. And in a nation with an ageing population,20% of whom identify as minorities, this is a problem.
A number of studies document lower quality end-of-life care for minorities regarding satisfaction, and communication and pain management. The 2014 Institute of Medicine report Dying in America notes that the nation’s healthcare system is fitting increasingly hampered by issues that limit the delivery of end-of-life care,many of which involve barriers to access of care in disadvantaged groups.
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Source: theguardian.com