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 resort” to 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, like “what happens after

I die?” and “what does death smell like?” To get an answer to the second question, check

out this DNews video! If you’re 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.

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