Literature Review

Review – ‘Eternal You’: a documentary about the digital afterlife industryehospice; 8/19/24In her second blog for Part of Life, Khadiza Laskor, a third-year PhD Student at the University of Bristol’s Cyber Security Centre for Doctoral Training Programme, reviews ‘Eternal You’: a documentary about the Digital Afterlife Industry. It features companies serving the Digital Afterlife Industry which has grown with the emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): texts, audio and images generated by algorithms.

More than half of Mission’s remaining staff neurologists say they are resigning, citing burnout, ‘nausea and fury’ NC Health News; by Asheville Watchdog; 8/23/24 Three staff neurologists are leaving Mission Hospital by the end of September, potentially leaving only two to provide critical care to hundreds of patients at the Asheville flagship hospital and across western North Carolina, including many who have suffered strokes. ... Asheville Watchdog interviewed departing physicians, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concern for their careers or potential retribution. Their departures — triggered by what they describe as an ever-increasing patient load, Mission’s years-long inability to hire more physicians, and pay issues — intensify an exodus from the HCA Healthcare-owned hospital and a program that has been recognized nationally.

Capitol Notebook: New study spotlights Iowa health care landscape TheGazette; by The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau; 8/22/24 More Iowa health care facilities have closed than opened since 2008, and more Iowa hospitals are operating at a loss as workforce shortages and costs rise. ... Key findings of the report include: 

What is Death?GeriPal podcast; by Eric Widera, Alex Smith, Winston Chiong, Sean Aas; 8/22/24We’ve talked about Brain Death before ... and in many ways today’s podcast is a follow up to that episode. Why does this issue keep coming up? Why is it unresolved? Today we put these questions to Winston Chiong, a neurologist and bioethicist, and Sean Aas, a philosopher and bioethicist.

Transformational leadership: The how and why  Forbes; by Akin Akinpelu; 8/13/24 The ability to inspire and motivate a team isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a necessity. That is why transformational leadership goes beyond traditional management tactics, to driving innovation and fostering a culture where everyone feels valued and empowered. Here’s why it matters and how you can cultivate it within your own organization. At its heart, transformational leadership is about creating a vision that motivates and inspires your team to achieve more than they ever thought possible. There are a few key elements that really set transformational leaders apart: 

3 of the fastest growing hospice companies Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 8/16/24 Three of the nation’s for-profit hospice companies have hit the accelerator on revenue growth, achieving triple-digit percentages. Each of these organizations — Traditions Health, Fortis Health and HealthFlex Hospice — appeared on Inc. magazine’s 2024 listing of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. ... 

John Oliver on US for-profit hospice care: ‘too important to just hope the free market fixes it' The Guardian; by Adrian Horton; 8/19/24 On the latest Last Week Tonight, John Oliver delved into the many issues with hospice care in the US. Doing so is “an almost offensive parody of this show”, he acknowledged. “If somebody else did that, it would genuinely be hurtful. But I promise this is worth talking about.” There are “lots of dedicated people work with hospices, providing huge relief for dying patients and their families, particularly those who want to remain at home”, such as the 1.8 million Americans who received end-of-life care at home last year. But like anything, hospice is subject to fraud, mismanagement and abuse. One government report estimated that hospice’s inappropriate billing costs Medicare hundreds of millions per year. ... “Hospice care, when done well, is hugely beneficial to those that are dying and their families. It is too important to just hope the free market fixes it,” Oliver concluded. “This industry badly needs reform. That’s clear.” [Click on links below for more information and responses.] 

A.L.S. stole his voice. A.I. retrieved it. DNYUZ, originally posted in The New York Times; 8/15/24Four years ago, Casey Harrell sang his last bedtime nursery rhyme to his daughter. By then, A.L.S. had begun laying waste to Mr. Harrell’s muscles, stealing from him one ritual after another: going on walks with his wife, holding his daughter, turning the pages of a book. “Like a night burglar,” his wife, Levana Saxon, wrote of the disease in a poem. ... Last July, doctors at the University of California, Davis, surgically implanted electrodes in Mr. Harrell’s brain to try to discern what he was trying to say. ... Yet the results surpassed expectations, the researchers reported on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, setting a new bar for implanted speech decoders and illustrating the potential power of such devices for people with speech impairments.

YoloCares: Overregulated California skips key regulations Our Community Now (OCN); by Craig Dresang, Special to The Enterprise; 8/17/24 California is the most heavily regulated state in the country. According to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the Golden State has 420,434 regulatory restrictions which is more than double the national average. ... So, it seems ironic that certain critically important sectors in California that impact the well-being, health and quality of life for millions of seniors are grossly unchecked and mis-regulated. My husband, who has owned and operated salons for nearly 30 years, pointed out that California’s Board of Barbering and Cosmetology (BBC) appears to have more rigorous rules and regulations for nail technicians than it does for board-and-care (B&C) owners or privately owned hospice companies. ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

Mortuaries get a modern-day makeover The Hustle; by Sara Friedman; 8/20/24 When window shopping in a city, it’s often an aesthetic storefront that captures your attention and pulls you inside. But what if the handcrafted vase that caught your eye was actually an urn for human remains? That’s the business model for the crop of trendy, modernized mortuaries popping up around the world, per The New York Times. ... Pretty enough to be spas or nightclubs, these new mortuaries bring some levity to customers looking for something different. In a Co-Op Funeralcare study of 4k people in the UK, 68% said they see funerals as celebrations of life, not sad occasions. [Examples given] ... These new mortuary models are tapping into a lucrative industry: The average funeral costs ~$6.6k in London, while the median cost of a US funeral is $8.3k.

It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards… ~Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There

[Ireland] Does a palliative medicine service reduce hospital length of stay and costs in adults with a life-limiting illness?-a difference-in-differences evaluation of service expansion in IrelandAnnals of Palliative Medicine; by Soraya Matthews, Eimir Hurley, Bridget M Johnston, Pauline Kane, Karen Ryan, Eoin Tiernan, Charles Normand, Peter May; 7/24People approaching end of life account disproportionately for health care costs, and the majority of these costs accrue in hospitals. The economic evidence base to improve value of care to this population is thin. Our primary analytic sample included 4,314 observations, of whom 608 (14%) received timely palliative care. We estimated that the intervention reduced LOS [length of stay] by nearly two days, with an estimated associated saving per admission of €1,820.

[Netherlands] Potentially inappropriate end of life care and healthcare costs in the last 30 days of life in regions providing integrated palliative care in the Netherlands: A registration-based studyInternational Journal of Integrated Care; by Chantal F R Pereira , Anne-Floor Q Dijxhoorn, Berdine Koekoek, Monique van den Broek, Karin van der Steen, Marijanne Enge, Marjon van Rijn, Judith M Meijers, Jeroen Hasselaar, Agnes van der Heide, Bregje D Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Marieke H J van den Beuken-van Everdingen, Yvette M van der Linden, Manon S Boddaert, Patrick P T Jeurissen, Matthias A W Merkx, Natasja J H Raijmakers; 7/24This study aimed to assess the effect of integrated palliative care (IPC) on potentially inappropriate end- of-life care and healthcare-costs in the last 30 days of life in the Netherlands. In regions providing IPC deceased adults (n = 37,468) received significantly less potentially inappropriate end-of-life care post-implementation compared to pre-implementation. Mean hospital costs significantly decreased for deceased adults who received IPC ... while mean costs increased for general practitioner services. This study shows less potentially inappropriate end-of-life care and a shift in healthcare costs from hospital to general practitioner and home care with IPC.