States Get Low Marks for End-of-Life Care
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2003-06-23 16:05:36
States are doing an inadequate job of ensuring high-quality, pain-free care for people with terminal illnesses.
That's a finding of "Means to a Better End: A Report on Dying in America Today," a study grading states on policy and quality of care for the dying.
Released in November by Last Acts—a national coalition of groups seeking better end-of-life care—the study should serve as a wake-up call to Americans about how deficient such care is in most states, says Judith Peres, deputy director of Last Acts.
The report labels care for the nation's dying "no better than mediocre" based on its evaluation of states in eight categories—the first time, Peres says, the issue has been analyzed this way.
The study awards states grades from 'A' (the best) to 'E' (the worst) in such areas as death rates at home; hospice use; access to hospital end-of-life services; the number of doctors and nurses certified in palliative care; and pain management policies.
Last Acts also released results of a public opinion poll it commissioned last year. More than half of about 1,000 people surveyed by Lake Snell Perry & Associates rated end-of-life care as "only fair" or "poor."
"Increased consumer demand for good end-of-life care is critical to improving the situation documented by this report," says Theresa Varner, director of AARP's Public Policy Institute.
For more information on the study and state grades, visit www.lastacts.org.
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