The Economist magazine's Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked Britain at the top of a list of 40 countries in terms of the quality of care it provides for its dying citizens. In compiling its listing, the Unit considered a variety of factors, including access to painkillers, public awareness, and financial considerations. Britain's ranking, which was ahead of Australia (number 2) and New Zealand (number 3), was also boosted by its nationally established hospice network, by the tendency of British doctors to "be honest about prognoses", and by the ability of patients to simultaneously undergo both curative-minded treatment and palliative care.
The United States landed at number 9, thanks to the financial burden placed on patients and families during end-of-life care, and to the (not wholly accurate) assertion that patients are required to reliquish curative treatments in order to be given palliative care.
By Ross Bonander
SOURCE
Grim Reapings: The quality of death. The Economist, July 17-23, 2010. Print.
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