End-of-life

In Palliative Care, Comfort Is the Top Priority

Last year, when an oncologist advised that Betty Chin might benefit frompalliative care, her son Kevin balked. Mrs. Chin, a retired nurse’s aide who lives in Manhattan’s Chinatown, was undergoing treatment for a recurrence of colorectal cancer. Her family understood that radiation and chemotherapy wouldn’t cure her, but they hoped doctors could keep the cancer

A New Vision for Dreams of the Dying

One evening in the late fall, Lucien Majors, 84, sat at his kitchen table, his wife Jan by his side, as he described a recent dream. Mr. Majors had end-stage bladder cancer and was in renal failure. As he spoke with a doctor from Hospice Buffalo , he was alert but faltering. In the dream,

When Your Loved One Is Ready for Hospice Care – and You Aren’t

Many painful emotional issues face family members and friends when a loved one becomes terminally ill. These include communicating the diagnosis to others; overcoming denial that the person is, in fact, near death; feeling the need to "be strong" and hide their sadness for the benefit of the patient and others; dealing with anticipatory grief;

How to Talk to Your Children about End-of-Life Care

This period of time can be uncomfortable for all – which is why many families choose not to have the “tough conversation” about what the next steps are for a parent’s care. But, now is the time to talk to your children about end-of-life care. Learn more about how to get your children involved in

New year brings chance to have tough conversations

Approximately 2.5 million people will die in the United States in the new year. Of that number, over three-fourths will very likely be over the age of 65. This makes Medicare the largest insurer of health care during the last year of life for an extremely large number of individuals. In 2015, Medicare proposed payment

Blue Cross expands benefits for end-of-life care

The state’s largest health insurer this week will begin offering some of the newest and most comprehensive end-of-life benefits in the nation, aiming to prod patients and health care providers to discuss death openly and expand services to help people live out their last days. The move by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts comes

How to ensure people get end-of-life health care they want

My mom paid a painful price for not completing an advance directive about her preferences for end-of-life medical care. She was an intelligent and organized woman who had everything in her and my dad’s life planned out and written down. She even drafted her own obituary. Ironically, she never discussed her end-of-life care goals with

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