The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) today called for privacy and dignity to be given to the thousands who die each year in Ireland's hospitals.
IHF chief executive Mr Eugene Murray warned that many people were critically ill and dying without the basic rights of space, privacy, confidentiality and dignity.
The first Irish conference on the care offered to people dying in hospitals heard that there are often no dedicated rooms for critically ill patients - which causes other sick people severe distress.
The IHF called upon the Government and Health Service to bring in radical and urgent changes to care for those close to death - with 15,000 people dying in hospitals each year.
Mr Pat Cox, former President of the European Parliament, who addressed the conference, said that hospitals must provide compassionate care if a cure was not possible.
"The hospital is designed to cope with patients and with curative medicine and the truth is that of the 30,000 people who die each year in Ireland at this stage half of them or more die in an actual hospital situation," he said.
The conference, which was held in Dublin but attracted many international experts, heard there is often no private space for patients and families on public wards and few places for relatives to talk privately.
Mr Cox said that professionals in the medical area had stressed that the issue was about the mindset and culture of operation within hospitals rather than specifically about resources.
He said a study from a focus group by the staff in Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda had raised many different issues.
"A member of staff spoke about a person dying in a public ward with the screen being pulled around, the family of course going through their bereavement and their grieving with that dying person, and blaring in the background a football match," he said.
"The absence there of the space for a dignified passage is a real challenge. That may indeed have some economic consequences, but a lot of it is actually about planning out the system."
At the conference, Dr Simon Mills, a barrister and doctor, raised the prospect of patients suing to assert their rights to privacy, confidentiality and a dignified death.