Introduction
End-of-life care for cancer patients is imperative as it aims to optimize the quality of life by alleviating physical, social, spiritual, and psychological suffering experienced throughout the dying process. Proper interaction/communication between terminally ill patients and their family members is particularly crucial because it enables a patient to adjust to the process with ease and family members to move on after death with mitigated regret (1). Such provisions have been made available and are promoted in hospices and palliative care wards.
However, the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected various aspects of healthcare, and end-of-life care is no exception. In an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection, patients’ families are discouraged from visiting hospitals and nursing homes. This separation might further deteriorate the mental health of both vulnerable patients and their family members (2). That being said, providing effective end-of-life care in medical institutions amid the pandemic to cancer patients who are highly susceptible to the infection itself has been a major challenge worldwide.
Alternatively, home care could be a preferable solution to this problem. Home care is a form of medical care in which patients stay at home with the help of their families and medical professionals. This form of care is actively practiced in some countries, including Japan, where reimbursement for home care is available, including for cancer patients. In Japan, the first infection of COVID-19 was noted in January 2020, and a state of emergency was subsequently declared from April 2020 to May 2020. Since then, the infection has not been well controlled yet. Until now, many medical institutions have implemented restrictions on hospitalized patients.
In this article, we present a case study of a Japanese patient who spent the final stages of his illness at home using home care during the COVID-19 pandemic.