Guaranteeing individuals the right to die at home is critical to happiness

Everyone wishes to live a healthy life and pass away at their home as if they were asleep. The most preferred place for Koreans to spend their last moment is at home. In the early 1990s, eight out of ten Koreans died at home. Today, however, most people end their lives in hospitals with medical devices attached to their bodies. Only 16% of people die in comfort at home due to the lack of medical facilities and care at home.

Care for the elderly in the Netherlands, recently investigated by the Dong-A Ilbo reporting team, shows that more people would be able to stay at their own homes nearing death if a proper medical nursing care system is extended to households. The Netherlands, which has been building an integrated care system since the 1970s, has the lowest rate of dying in hospitals among member countries of the OECD at 23.3%. Senior citizens spend active golden years at daycare facilities, tending gardens, and raising pets with neighbors. Even senior citizens suffering from chronic diseases, including dementia or fractures, receive treatment and nursing care at home without being admitted to the hospital. Even seniors finding it physically challenging to live alone can cook and do their laundry in an environment like home.

Developed countries experiencing rapid aging, such as the Netherlands, are building their welfare policies for seniors by focusing on the ‘right to grow old and die at home.’ This is to ensure that people live energetically and have healthy relationships with their families and society, and then die with dignity. Policies that help people live independently as much as possible rather than hospitalization are also necessary to reduce unnecessary medical care and expenses. According to data on overseas cases, medical expenses for seniors 65 or older account for half of all medical expenses.

Korea lacks a customized medical care system for the elderly, so when people get older and lose health, they end up going to nursing homes, nursing hospitals, emergency rooms, and intensive care units at hospitals. Rather than making use of cutting-edge medical technology to prolong meaningful lives, we are using it to extend painful deaths. This also increases the burden of medical expenses, which has grown to a point threatening public health insurance finances. The time has come to focus on managing the quality of death as much as the quality of life. Individuals and society will be happy if they can die peacefully, without physical pain, at home and with their families close by.