Business of Life

When gender, ethnic differences count

When it comes to end-of-life care, there are distinct gender and ethnic based differences in people's choices, according to a study, admittedly small. Gender, Ethnicity Sway Choices for End-of-Life Care.

"For Arabs, going to a nursing home is the worst thing that could happen to you. The strong expectation is that your family takes care of you," Duffy said. "But African-Americans were more comfortable going to a nursing home, as they did not want to 'burden' their families."

When it comes how you want to be treated if you had only six months to live...

"The men generally did not want extensive intervention done. Dying with dignity was very important, and they didn't want to be a 'vegetable,' " she said.

Duffy added that many men appeared to feel that being dependent at the end of life was a threat to their masculinity.
By contrast, "women were more hopeful that God might intervene and things might change."