Who is the demographic least prepared to die? Young people, right? Or is it single parents with young children? Maybe young single parents with young children.
The short answer is that it is hard to know. At least, according to the largest collector of health information in North America. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC (who, admittedly, had their hands full in 2020-2021 with Covid-19), last surveyed dying people back in 2000, over 22 years ago at the time of this writing.
Do you know what was going strong back in 2000? Bill Clinton was president. AOL was still a thing. And, presumably, people were still dying.
According to the CDC’s website, their survey of palliative care patients reviewed the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual care for dying persons, their families, and other loved ones. This sounds like important work. The survey was last conducted in 2000, and it looks like the data was published four years later, in February 2004. I wish I had that much time to sign off my lab results!
There is some fascinating information in the report that I will cover in future posts. But I will leave today with one thought: What is something about death that you don’t know that may hurt you?