Endgame: How the Visionary Hospice Movement Became a For-Profit Hustle
Half of all Americans now die in hospice care. Easy money and a lack of regulation transformed a crusade to provide death with dignity into an industry rife with fraud and exploitation. It might be counterintuitive to run an enterprise that is wholly dependent on...
In Difficult Cases, ‘Families Cannot Manage Death at Home’
Where do people most want to be when they die? At home, they tell researchers — in familiar surroundings, in comfort, with the people they love. an article this month in The New England Journal of Medicine that pointedly asks, “Is There Really ‘No Place Like Home’?”...
Private Equity Is Gobbling Up Hospice Chains And Getting Involved In The Business Of Dying
Today, private equity firms are acquiring American hospices at an astonishing rate. From 2012 to 2019, the number of hospices owned by private equity companies tripled. The pace of acquisitions seems to have only gotten faster during the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry...
What I’ve Learned Over a Lifetime of Caring for the Dying
Some of the hardest conversations I have in my work involve telling families managing the debilitating chronic illness of a loved one at home that they are essentially on their own. Most do not realize that medical insurance does not pay for long-term home care....
The Grief Artist
Someone in my group for hospice workers shares the article on flowers as a grief ritual, and that’s how I discover Janet. I quickly read the news story about how Janet uses the dried flowers from her mother’s funeral to make new images for 100 days. I read other...
Sent Home to Die
Sarah Johnson spent her entire life taking care of people — the six children she raised, mostly alone, and the hospital patients she served in her 25 years as a nurse. But at 86, she was the one who needed care. She was thin and frail and had COVID-19. Her son Rodney...
Jewish Perspectives on End-of-Life Care
While Jewish tradition maintains that human life is of infinite value and that its preservation and extension overrides virtually every other religious imperative, relieving pain and allowing for the soul’s peaceful departure are also values well-established in Jewish...
Health, Hope and Hospice
“The word “hospice” comes from the Latin “hospitium” meaning guesthouse. It was originally described a place of shelter for weary and sick travelers returning from religious pilgrimages. During the 1960’s, Dr. Cicely Saunders began the...
Think you want to die at home? You might want to think twice about that
Many of us think we want to die at home, surrounded by friends and family. Unfortunately, a profit-driven healthcare and insurance system have turned this into a nightmare. Family members are so busy providing medical and nursing care that they are unable to spend...
Patients Want To Die At Home, But Home Hospice Care Can Be Tough On Families
Even though surveys show it’s what most Americans say they want, dying at home is “not all it’s cracked up to be,” says Johnson, who relocated to New Mexico at age 40 to care for her dying mother some years ago, and ultimately wrote an essay...
There is beauty and joy at the end of life, too
What people don’t understand is the beauty and joy to be found at the end of life. When I tell people I work at a hospice, they often say “that must be so hard.” But my favourite thing is hearing people’s stories, their experiences, their successes, their failures –...
5 Red Flags to Look Out for When Choosing a Care Facility
If you need a little help with the decision-making process, be sure to steer clear of facilities that demonstrate any of these red flags.
6 Ways Caregivers Can Celebrate Senior Citizen’s Day, Every Day
Why wait a whole year to use Senior Citizen’s Day to spend time with a loved one? Take inspiration from this list to show older adults you care.
Where Should a Child Die? Hospice Homes Help Families With the Unimaginable
The Grafs had reluctantly started Parker on hospice at 7 months. “When it comes to the word ‘hospice,’ anyone who hears it is scared of it,” Anthony says. “But it means different things.” In the United States, “hospice” can designate a place where people go to die,...
Long miles, lonely roads: In rural Texas, dying at home means little is easy
HASKELL COUNTY, Texas – To get to the house where Shawn Jordan wants to die, you drive a hypnotic road along miles of furrowed cotton fields, gnarly mesquite trees, low-to-the-ground cactus, and cattle perpetually in search of food. This iconic land of open...
Majority of Hospice Workers Don’t Have End-of-life Wishes Themselves
There are approximately 6,100 hospices nationwide that provide care for about 1.6 million patients annually. On a daily basis, health care providers, especially those dealing with terminally ill patients, such as hospice workers, witness how advance directives – an...
Down The Rabbit Hole Into Caregiverland
It’s a complete 180 learning curve going from journalist / author / daughter to caregiver / nurse / nursing aide / doctor / mother. And what a challenge it can be. Every morning, we have an aide who manages Mom’s hygiene, bathing her and washes her hair when she wants...
The Condition that Shielded My Grandfather From Heartbreak
By the first week of July, a nurse called and said, Things are progressing. This seemed like misleading terminology, but I understood what she meant. Later, I flipped through the manual the hospice team had given us. Inside, it described how a body prepared for death,...
My husband is dying and I don’t know myself
I spend a lot of time thinking about hospice care these days. As my husband’s health declined it was as if we could hear the clock ticking more loudly. All the plans we’d made for growing old, the life we’d imagined, was not going to happen. If our...
New Medicare Rules Should Help ‘High Need’ Patients Get Better Treatment
Doctors have complained for years that they’re not paid adequately for time-consuming work associated with managing care for seriously ill older patients: consulting with other specialists, talking to families and caregivers, interacting with pharmacists and more....Terminally Ill Patients Don’t Use Aid-In-Dying Laws To Relieve Pain
Supporters of “death with dignity” have succeeded in legalizing medical aid-in-dying in five states by convincing voters, lawmakers and courts that terminally ill patients have the right to die without suffering intractable pain in their final days or weeks. When Gov....
Saying Goodbye, The Right Way
Ediccia wanted to be remembered as someone who didn’t give up. Chuck said some of his favorite times were playing baseball with his brothers. Joe said he was the luckiest man in the world. Abel summed it up this way: “You have a one-way ticket. Don’t waste it!” They...
Patients With Dementia Present Communication Challenges In Hospice Care
Dementia took over Pauline Finster’s 91-year-old mind long ago and she may die without having another real conversation with her daughter. After Finster broke her hip in July 2015, Jackie Mantua noticed her mother’s speech ebbing until she only said “hi,” or that she... Zen and the Art of Dying Well
It seems like my social media feeds are full of fundraisers to cure every disease known to humanity. Silicon Valley startups are trying to cure death itself. But there are others out there who are embracing death as an essential and beautiful part of the human...
What’s your advice to those caring for someone that’s dying?
We recently asked our community members what’s your best advice for someone who’s currently caring for a loved on that’s dying? Here’s what you had to say. Bobbi Carducci: Be with your loved one every moment you can. Having been at the side of...
Difficult conversations on end-of-life care
Joy’s piece on her experience caring for her mother as she died at home got a huge reaction. Our community members have had dramatically different experiences taking care of someone in their final hours. Here are some of the things they shared: Get help My...
Why dying at home is not all it’s cracked up to be
At one point during my mother’s last month on this planet, she was offered an extra pillow to make her more comfortable. She half-joked that the pillow belonged over her face. If I had known what her final days would be like, I may have obliged. Dying at home...
Our 10 favorite caregivers on Instagram
Here’s a recent roundup of our caregiving friends on Instagram and a summary of who they are and what they do. Thanks for sharing your stories with us everyday through inspiring pictures and quotes! This is our tribute to you. 1 – @kimbrell10 is a...
Hospice party: Part 2
If you haven’t read Hospice Party Part 1, perhaps you should, as this article, Hospice Party Part 2, will put the article in perspective and lead to an understanding and education for some. Let The Conversation Begin–End of Life Care I knew I was being a...Top Posts
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