Use of Hospice Care and Registration of Advance Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment Are Rising Sharply
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Use of hospice care and registration of advance decisions on life-sustaining treatment have been increasing together, according to recent findings. Hospice is a service that focuses on care and reduces pain so that terminally ill patients can spend their remaining time in comfort. According to recently released data, 26,020 people newly used hospice services.
An advance decision on life-sustaining treatment is a document in which a person states in advance whether they will receive treatment that prolongs life if they reach a state in which recovery is not possible. More than 3.2 million people have registered this document. This can be seen as a sign that more people are thinking about and preparing for their final days in advance.
At the same time, the national budget for related projects has also grown rapidly. Combining the annual expenditures of 49 hospice and life-sustaining treatment-related projects, the total was 52.8 billion won in 2016. It has continued to rise since then, reaching 3,373.4 billion won in 2025. In about ten years, the budget has increased by nearly 64 times.
As the number of hospice users and registrants of advance decisions on life-sustaining treatment grows and the related budget increases significantly, interest in how end-of-life care is provided and how people prepare for death is growing. Attention is also expected to continue on how this system will help patients and their families going forward.
Sources: 코리아헬스로그
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