Slovaks want to die at home surrounded by family and loved ones, they are afraid of the pain and financial burden for loved ones who would care for them. This follows from the results of a survey conducted by the 2muse agency for the non-profit organization Viaticus in September 2025. The representatives of the non-profit organization informed about this at a press conference on Thursday.
- Most Slovaks prefer dying at home to hospitals or clinics.
- People want to have family and close friends close by when they are dying.
- Most of the population desires to make treatment decisions and remain conscious.
- Slovaks perceive the public discussion about dying as insufficient and limited.
- A wish expressed in advance is supposed to protect the will of the patient, but it does not work systemically.
The results of the survey showed that people especially want to die at home. Almost 80 percent of respondents reject medical facilities, or treatment centers for long-term patients. More than half (64 percent) also said that they especially want to have relatives with them at the end of their lives.
The survey also shows that people want to rely on themselves until the end and participate in treatment decisions. More than half (52 percent) of the respondents said that they want to hear the bad news alone or in the presence of their family (20 percent). Eighty-five percent of respondents said that in the last moments of their lives, they want to be able to say goodbye to their loved ones and be conscious (58 percent). They want to be able to make decisions about treatment even at the end of life (77 percent).
More than half (51 percent) of respondents have no problem talking about dying, 72 percent think that the topic of end of life and dying is not talked about enough. “This current survey also shows the need to create conditions for a dignified death, to devote more attention to improving the conditions of care for the seriously ill and dying, especially better home care support, so that the dying can stay with their loved ones as long as possible, and for them to have higher professional support in mobile palliative teams. A person does not come into the world alone and should not leave alone. Part of dying with dignity is also to create tools that will respect the will of the dying person even in case of his incapacity, it is the last service to a person,” said Viaticus director Jana Červenáková.
She also pointed out that a wish expressed in advance, or a medical will, is a document that is supposed to ensure that the patient’s will is respected in every situation and is one of the tools to prevent the prolongation of the dying process (dystanasia). “This institute is contained in the Convention on Human Rights, to which the Slovak Republic has also acceded in full, but the transfer of some of its provisions into application practice has not been ensured to date,” pointed out Červenáková.
