Literature Review

Prison teaches Rock Island man how to care for others wn.com, The Daily Nonpariel; by Tom Loewy; 2/15/26 Finis Leonard has helped 13 men die. That's not why the 48-year-old Rock Island native has been in Illinois prisons since 2007. Handed concurrent sentences of 30 years for being an armed habitual criminal and 10 years for the unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, Leonard made a decision in 2016 that he says changed his life. He decided to study palliative care and started a hospice care program at Danville Correctional Center. Leonard said working with dying men and helping others learn palliative care has made him a better person. He has petitioned Rock Island County State's Attorney Dora Villarreal for early release from his prison sentence, which is expected to last another six years. [Full article is behind a paywall.]

Bono residents donate blood in honor of boy battling cancer KAIT-8 News, Bono, AR; by Alejandra Hernandez; 2/16/26 A community blood drive honored 7-year-old Jacob Garland, who is battling cancer and currently in hospice care. ... Doctors told the family they had done everything possible, but the cancer was too aggressive. Jacob is now in hospice care at home. ... While hospitalized, Jacob received nearly one blood transfusion per week. ... Several family members would travel to Memphis to donate blood, even though not all of the blood would go to Jacob directly—it was still helping a patient who needed it. ... Garland’s aunt, Sharon Hill, approached the family about hosting a blood drive, and they agreed. “There’s a lot of people out there that need life-saving blood, so if it helps other families,” Garland said. “Se’re happy to be here and support that need.”

[England] Almost one in three people in England die without the basic care they need Medical Xpress; by King's College London, edited by Lisa Lock; 2/16/26 About 170,000 people in England every year spend their final days in pain, distress or without vital support that should be available to everyone at the end of life. These are the findings of the first major study in more than a decade to estimate unmet palliative care needs among people at the end of life. The paper was led by researchers at King's College London and Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, with contributions from the University of Edinburgh and was published in the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy.

The Winter Olympics prove that strength can shine even in the harshest conditions.

How to plan for a ‘good death,’ according to a VCU researcher VCU News, Virginia Commonwealth University; by Madeline Reinsel; 2/16/26 People talk a lot more about death than dying. That’s according to Yifan Lou, Ph.D., a Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work assistant professor who studies how expectations around death and end-of-life care differ across cultures. ... “My job is really trying to understand different populations and then help design a policy and health care system that can support their value of the good death.” Planning for a good death requires patients and families to make decisions around hospice care, pain management, quality of life, financial affairs and long-term care, ideally alongside a social worker.

Oregon considers bill to stop hospice scammers from entering state Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 2/13/26 State lawmakers in Oregon are mulling a bill designed to combat hospice fraud. Senate Bill 1575 would prevent hospices that have committed fraud or provided substandard care in other states from setting up shop in Oregon. If enacted, the Oregon Health Authority, a state agency, would examine the history of companies seeking to open hospices before approving a license, including Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey results, among other information. 

'An alarm bell': Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service shutters amid turmoil for home health care Santa Fe New Mexican; Santa Fe, NM; by Margaret O'Hara; 2/16/26 A home health and hospice agency that has been serving Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties for more than 50 years will shutter later this month, a closure agency officials attributed to decreasing revenue from patient insurance and sharply rising health care costs. Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service will halt operations Friday. The loss should serve as a warning, said Meggin Lorino, executive director of the New Mexico Association for Home and Hospice Care. The decision to shutter Los Alamos Visiting Nurses comes as rural health care providers grapple with an abundance of challenges, which range from operating on razor-thin financial margins to impending cuts to Medicaid to the added pressures of the state’s aging population.Editor's Note: This provides further information to the article we posted 2/13/26, "Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service closing its doors but other options are available to those in need."

Geographic and sociodemographic disparities in access to hospice in Pennsylvania American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Jacob Whitman, PhD, Dylan Nagy, MS, Harsheni Sudakar, BSPH, Coleman Drake, PhD, Lindsay Sabik, PhD, and Yael Schenker; 2/14/26 online ahead of print Results: In total, 2.3 million Pennsylvanians, or 17% of the state population, reside in census tracts classified as cold spots. Cold spots were concentrated in rural and socioeconomically disadvantaged regions. Compared with other tracts, cold spot tracts were lower income, less educated, older, more reliant on public insurance, and less racially diverse. Patterns were consistent when restricting to high quality hospice and nonprofit hospices. Conclusion: Geographic disparities in hospice access compound existing sociodemographic inequities. Addressing these inequities will require efforts to expand high-quality hospice availability in underserved communities.

'My wedding dress funded care for dying children' BBC News, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom; by Grace Wood; 2/14/26 As any bride-to-be knows, wedding dresses can come at a terrifying cost, with the average price sitting at around £1,500. But at one specialist charity shop in West Yorkshire brides can not only pick up a dress at a fraction of the cost, but also give something back. Situated on the top floor of the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice store in Huddersfield, Holmfirth Bridal Suite is not your normal charity shop. Instead of the usual array of second-hand clothes the rails are lined with hundreds of pre-loved or donated wedding dresses. ... "Your average wedding dress is thousands of [dollars] and you wear it for one day, and then it goes in a box, and thankfully people are donating them here to be able to sell on and make more money for the hospice" ...

Psychosocial oncology: The Omega Project Taylor & Francis | Death Studies; by Matthew Loscalzo and Linda A. Klein; 2/14/26This article reports on an interview with J. William Worden that focuses initially on the Omega Project (1968–1986) that studied end-of-life care. Worden explains the four phases of the project with specific populations, goals, and key concepts that emerged. The discussion then shifts to the development of psychosocial oncology and palliative care. Finally, Worden offers some thoughts on the development of the hospice movement in the United States, the role of religion in coping with mortality, coping with personal loss, and his advice to new medical or graduate students just starting out.

What can we learn from death in the age of longevity? Time; by Arianna Huffington; 2/16/26 ... Research on those at the end of life shows that our values change as death approaches. At the end, we don’t crave more status or more things, but more connection. A study on terminally ill patients found that common reflections include concern for loved ones, gratitude, and spirituality. Another found that the most commonly discussed topics included accepting one's imperfections, celebrating and appreciating what you have, giving, and service to others. And a study of hospice patients found that they showed “the desire to grow and change at this critical time.” If hospice patients can grow and change at the end of life, why not grow and change now? ... It is a surprising, but important, lesson to learn: bringing death into our lives is what paradoxically allows us to live more fully.  

Aveanna CEO: Hospice multiples still too high Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 2/13/26 As Aveanna Healthcare Holdings considers potential acquisitions, hospices are not on the menu due to their high price tags. Hospice multiples skyrocketed during the boom M&A years of 2019 through 2022, reaching as high a 26x, sometimes more. As transactions slowed down between 2023 and 2025, one contributing factor was a disconnect between sellers’ and buyers’ expectations regarding valuations. Now hospice deals are picking up steam. The fourth quarter of 2025 saw the industry’s highest deal volume since 2021, and one reason is that sellers’ and buyers’ expectations are becoming more aligned. However, this trend hasn’t yet gone far enough, according to Aveanna CEO Jeff Shaner. “[Hospice multiples] are all north of 10x. ..."