The Quality of Death: Ranking End-of-Life Care across the World

The Economist Intellience Unit was commissioned by the Lien Foundation, a Singaporean philanthropic organisation, to devise a "Quality of Death" Index to rank countries according to their provision of end-of-life care.  The full 40-page report is available here in PDF.  Here is a list of the key findings:

• The UK leads the world in quality of death; many developed nations must work to catch up.  


• Combating perceptions of death, and cultural taboos, is crucial to improving palliative care.


• Public debates about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide may raise awareness, but relate to only a small minority of deaths.


• Drug availability is the most important practical issue.


• State funding of end-of-life care is limited and often prioritises conventional treatment.


• More palliative care may mean less health spending. 


• High-level policy recognition and support is crucial.


• Palliative care need not mean institutional care, but more training is needed.

The U.S. ranked 9th (tied with Ireland and just ahead of Canada), the Report explains, "principally because of the financial burden of end-of-life care."  The U.S. also apparently lost a lot of points on "public awareness of end-of-life care."  In its conclusion, the Report specifically calls out the U.S, for its "futile use of life-preserving medical technologies."