Literature Review

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As a doctor and a daughter, finding gratitude amid loss on Father’s Day The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD; by Jean Marbella; 6/21/26 As a physician who specializes in palliative care, Dr. Delia Chiaramonte helps patients, families and medical professionals deal with the stresses and demands that come with serious and often terminal illnesses. Then, her own father died. "I thought I knew what this experience would be like," she said. "It is much more nuanced." On this, her second Father's Day without her own father, Chiaramonte taps into both her lived and professional experiences to offer advice on a holiday for those feeling more bereft than celebratory.

The illusion of choice at the end of life Huffpost Personal; by Jennifer Obel, MD; 6/21/26 After the hospice nurse increased my mother’s morphine drip to ease the feeling of drowning, my mom never spoke to me again. By then, her metastatic lung cancer had taken nearly everything: her strength, her vigor, her independence. What remained was breathlessness that came in waves, each one more frightening than the last. The morphine was meant to quiet her panic and soften the feeling of suffocation. It did. It also closed the door on any final conversation. I was both daughter and oncologist, and the weight of those roles was devastating. I understood what was happening physiologically from decades of treating patients. That knowledge did nothing to make it easier to sit at her bedside, waiting for her to wake, unsure if she could hear me or say goodbye. ...

Dying without a safety net MedCityNews; by Darren Schulte; 6/21/26 Recently, I reviewed the case of a woman with advanced metastatic breast cancer – we’ll call her Helen. ... As one therapy after another failed, Helen cycled in and out of the hospital: complications from treatment, complications from the cancer itself, and each time the system responded the only way it knew how – rapid escalation, ICU stays, more procedures, more drugs. Finally, a palliative care team was consulted during her last hospitalization. After long family meetings, Helen was discharged to hospice and died days later. Throughout that final year, Helen suffered. No one on her medical team had documented her wishes, preferences, or goals of care. No one had walked her through the trade-offs she faced with each treatment decision. The system did what it was designed to do, and it failed her completely. 

Father's Day flashback: Son's pitch to ailing dad to take in a game becomes gift for both The Dallas Morning News; by Evan Grant; 6/21/26 I took my father to a baseball game Friday. It was his last. He is 87, dying from congestive heart failure and has been in the care of a hospice nurse for two months. We know what lies ahead shortly. And yet, this is not a sad story. Not in the least. Some 40 years ago, just down the block in what is now a parking lot, my dad introduced me to Major League Baseball. ... He opened a door to a world that has become my passion and my life. I wanted to simply try and repay him by taking him to one game as a way of saying thanks. It was going to be my Father's Day gift to him. Instead, it is about a gift he gave me.

Cincinnati Children's opened 6 locations in 2025. Here's why Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH; by Carly Gist; 6/12/2026 Cincinnati Children's is expanding its access to care across the region, including in Northern Kentucky. The health system reported in its latest Community Impact Report, released to the public June 9, that six new locations opened in 2025, including facilities in previously underserved communities such as Clermont and Clinton counties. Rural areas often have limited access to specialized and emergency care, placing residents at a higher risk of health challenges and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Care Synergy Announces Leadership Transition as CEO Tim Bowen Plans Retirement; Tricia Ford Named CEO ElectCare Synergy press release; 6/19/26Care Synergy President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Bowen has announced his plans to retire on March 2, 2027. To ensure a seamless leadership transition, Care Synergy's Board of Directors has named Hospice Chief Operating Officer Tricia Ford as CEO Elect. The transition plan includes Ford immediately assuming CEO Elect responsibilities while continuing to work closely with Bowen to ensure a seamless transfer of leadership. Bowen will retire on March 2, 2027, at which time Ford will become Chief Executive Officer. Care Synergy also plans to begin a search for a new Chief Operating Officer in the near future.

Disability-rights advocates sue Illinois over physician-assisted suicide law RegionalMediaNews.com; by The Center Square; 6/18/26 A law that is set to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Illinois is being challenged by disability-rights advocates and organizations in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois.The law, signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last December, is set to go into effect on Sept. 12, but disability rights advocates, which make up the “End Assisted Suicide Coalition,” are seeking to prevent it. Similar laws have been passed in 13 states across the country, with many also being challenged in court.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~ Thomas Edison, describing his search for inventing the electric light bulb

Left behind: Why small-town Americans are waiting longer for healthcare The Brandenton Times; by Stacy Pur, MBA, BSN, RN; 6/18/26 Somewhere in America, a woman with a late-stage cancer diagnosis is sitting in a nursing home on a Friday afternoon. She has chosen to stop active treatment. All she wants now is comfort, seamless pain relief, and the dignity of a gentle, supported care plan. The skilled nursing facility produced a thick paper packet of discharge information. But missing from that package is the one instruction that matters most: an order for hospice care coming from her oncologist. Because hospice and the advance directive were not arranged before the transfer to a hospice wing, and because the paperwork was incomplete, the nursing staff could not coordinate pain management over the weekend. Everything is closed. The patient spends two days without the medication she needs. That is not a hypothetical.

Seniors stitch quilts for hospice patients, turning personal grief into community giving WTXL-27 ABC, Tallahassee, FL; by Tatyana Purifoy; 6/19/26 A group of seniors at the Gadsden County Senior Center is turning thread, fabric, and friendship into comfort for others — forming a quilting club that creates handmade quilts donated to local hospice patients. ... For Rose Jackson, the project is personal. She was eager to partner with hospice because of the care and support her family received when her mother passed away. ... Member Ora Green says the project has given the group more than just something to do. Green is 96 years old and began her quilting journey at age 10. She says the club has given members an opportunity to use their talents to help others.

Hospice, ethics & capitalism:  a powerful conversation with  UVA Darden School of Business — part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Lauren Kaufman and Stephen Maiden; 6/17/26 Few topics spark more debate in healthcare than the intersection of compassionate care, ethical responsibility, and financial sustainability. Will mission-driven hospice organizations survive—and thrive—in a healthcare landscape increasingly dominated by for-profit providers? In Part One of this compelling conversation, host Chris Comeaux welcomes Lauren Kaufmann, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and Stephen Maiden, Managing Director of the Darden Case Writing Research Group. Together, they discuss the groundbreaking business case developed around Teleios Collaborative Network and the evolving hospice industry.