Latest California Healthline Stories
‘I Couldn’t Let Her Be Alone’: A Peaceful Death Amid the COVID Scourge
For three years, staffers at UCLA Health have been quietly fulfilling final wishes for dying patients in the intensive care unit. Amid the isolating forces of the pandemic, their work has become all the more meaningful.
My Mother Died Of The Coronavirus. It’s Time She Was Counted.
Not having an accurate, honest, nationwide way to tally COVID-19 cases will only add to the current tragedy.
Bringing ‘Poogie’ Home: Hospice In The Time Of COVID-19
One family took up the challenge of taking their mother, who had serious medical problems and the coronavirus, from the hospital to die at home. But because of the risk of infection, home hospice can be a daunting experience.
Palliative Care Helped Family Face ‘The Awful, Awful Truth’
Elizabeth and Robert Mar would have celebrated 50 years of marriage in August. Instead, they died within a day of each other. Their two very different deaths illustrate how palliative care is changing to help patients and families cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Sheltered At Home, Families Broach End-Of-Life Planning
Barbara Dreyfuss died March 1 after contracting COVID-19 at a Seattle-area nursing home. Her earlier decision to document her final wishes may offer an example for families as the deadly virus spurs interest in end-of-life care.
Shortfall Of Comfort Care Signals Undue Suffering For Coronavirus Patients
Families worry that overwhelmed hospitals won’t be able to provide palliative care for loved ones stricken with COVID-19.
Funeral Homes, Families Ponder Deaths In The Age Of COVID-19
As the novel coronavirus marches across the country, it is upending how families and funeral homes honor the dead — and, ultimately, put them to rest.
Terminally Ill, He Wanted Aid-In-Dying. His Catholic Hospital Said No.
Neil Mahoney had terminal cancer. He also had a legal right to aid-in-dying. But his faith-based hospital called it “morally unacceptable.” So he turned to a network of Colorado doctors to fulfill his last wish.
Patients Want A ‘Good Death’ At Home, But Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families
Fewer Americans are dying in a hospital, under the close supervision of doctors and nurses. That trend has been boosted by an expanded Medicare benefit that helps people live out their final days at home in hospice care. But as home hospice grows, so has the burden on families left to provide much of the care.
Diagnosed With Dementia, She Documented Her Wishes. They Said No.
Across the U.S., people with early dementia are signing new advance directives to confirm their end-of-life wishes while they still have the ability to do so. But doctors say the documents may offer a false sense of security.