title: [Death in old age--at home or in a hospital?].
abstract: The author reflects critically on some shortcomings of the contemporary not always indicated increase of institutionalized death in old age. The relief of relatives from the physical and mental strain associated with nursing in the home is in many instances heavily paid for by emotional deprivation and psychological suffering of the dying person away from his home. The attending doctor should therefore consider more carefully all risks of hospitalization in particular the hastened onset of death (the so-called phenomenon of transplantation and translocation shock) against its possible advantages. Under conditions of hospital or institutional treatment it is important to improve systematically the emotional support of patients dying without their family (trained health workers, psychologists and clergymen) or facilitate legislatively and de facto the integration of the closest relatives in the process of dying.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vojtĕchovský
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006701:Home Nursing; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D013727:Terminal Care
vernacular_title: Smrt ve stárí--doma ci v nemocnici?