Dying when you're old.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the deaths of older people and compares their circumstances and care with those of people dying at younger ages. Those dying when they are 85 years or more have greater needs and less support from relatives than people dying at younger ages. However, older people were not receiving more attention from general practitioners or from home nurses, even though those dying when they were 85 years or more were the least likely to be admitted to a hospital or hospice in the last year of their lives. The data add to the evidence from other studies that our health care services often fail to give appropriate and adequate care to older people.