No Place like Home: Making the Case for Home Healthcare

Abstract

In this article, I outline the benefits and advantages provided by home healthcare over more traditional forms of institutional healthcare. These benefits include greater comfort, flexibility, and independence, providing the opportunity for individually tailored care in familiar surroundings in which the prospects of recovery are enhanced. At the same time, however, I caution against the risk that home healthcare alleviates the pressures upon healthcare providers by placing an undue burden of care onto an informal network of family and friends.