We are getting older on average, but only 1 in 4 Belgians dies at home. “We must dare to ask the question more often: ‘How do you want to die?’”

On average, Belgians are living longer than before: more than half die only after the age of 85. In contrast, only one in four dies at home or in a familiar environment, according to new figures from the CM health insurance fund. We say goodbye more often in a medical context: “Doctors are trained to make people better, not to let them go,” says CM chairman Luc Van Gorp, who experienced this himself at the deathbed of his uncle René. “He was able to die in his ‘safe cocoon’, with his wife.”

ttn-3