Abstract
We conducted a questionnaire survey on the awareness and feelings of elderly patients and their families concerning their diseases and prognosis during terminal hospitalization. Sixty-five families of 177 patients who died at our hospital in 1992 answered questions concerning estimation of the prognosis, understanding of the disease, satisfaction regarding explanation of the disease, wish to be informed of the diagnosis, feelings during hospitalization, and whether the family revealed the diagnosis to the patient. Patients with malignancy were not informed of the true diagnosis at this time. As to estimation of the prognosis, patients aged 70 or older who did not expect “cure” of their diseases at first were significantly fewer, and those anticipating “death” just before dying were significantly more frequent than those under age 70. In patients with malignancy, those aged 70 or older foresaw “incurability” at first significantly more frequently than those under age 70. Patients with malignancy knew the diagnosis in significantly fewer cases, believed the false diagnosis significantly more frequently, and showed dissatisfaction with the explanation of the disease significantly more frequently, than those with non-malignancy. Proportions of the family who told the diagnosis to the patient were 11.8% in malignancy and 38.8% in non-malignancy with statistical significance. These data indicate that medical care during terminal hospitalization should be modified principally based on informed consent, if that is the wish of the patient.
