Following are various resources on cultures & customs that offer information, commentary, or experiences regarding health care decision-making by individuals or by their agents/representatives. These links are provided for illustrative purposes only. Use them in your own discretion. Act with the advice of a qualified professional.
"Homeless have end-of-life care worries" (03/29/07) -- Synopsis: A U.S. study published in the April, 2007 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine made two general findings: Homeless participants worried about dying in a place where no one would find them and& dying in anonymity, with no memorialization; and they expressed fear about not being cared for compassionately or adequately by healthcare providers because of their homelessness.
Excerpt: "After lives in which they often struggle to get medical care, African Americans and other minorities are more likely than whites to want, and get, more aggressive care as death nears and are less likely to use hospice and palliative-care services to ease their suffering, according to a large body of research and leading experts. As a result, they are more likely to experience more medicalized deaths, dying more frequently in the hospital, in pain, on ventilators and with feeding tubes -- often after being resuscitated or getting extra rounds of chemotherapy, dialysis or other care, studies show."