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60 percent of cancer patients die in a hospital, Dartmouth study finds

By Karen Weintraub

 |  Globe Correspondent  

  April 09, 2012

Although most Americans say they want to die at home, not hooked up to a hospital ventilator, many doctors still feel compelled to treat even terminal cancer with the most aggressive care. Sixty percent of cancer patients die in a hospital, one-quarter of them in intensive care. And it makes no difference whether patients are treated by doctors at community hospitals, teaching hospitals or specialized cancer care centers, according to a study of Medicare patients released Monday afternoon.

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