Literature Review

What end-of-life experts know about living well: love your wrinkles, celebrate birthdays and don’t obsess over work The Guardian; by Sarah Phillips; 8/13/26 We will all face death one day, but our attitude towards this is individual. How can our understanding of mortality shape our approach to life? Here, palliative care doctors and death doulas share what they know about the end – and how it informs the way they live. Prioritize people, not things Dr. Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor who works at an NHS hospital in Oxfordshire [England] and is the author of several books, including The Story of a Heart. “I have learned what matters to my patients as they approach the end of their life,” says Clarke. “All the irrelevant stuff is stripped away. No one cares about how much power they had, how big their house is, how fancy their car is, how much status they had at work. What they care about is the people they love.” In short: “The way to live a life that is rich and deeply fulfilling is to build human connections. That matters more than anything else.”

Metal forget-me-nots display remembers hospice patients BBC News, West Midlands, United Kingdom; by Susie Rack; 8/17/26 Nine hundred handcrafted forget-me-nots have been planted in Worcestershire to remember hospice patients and raise essential funds. The display, planted by St Richard's Hospice in the gardens of St Andrew's Spire, Worcester, was created by artist Ed Alvis, from Metal Art UK, whose father was cared for by the charity at home. Sue Fletcher, from Droitwich, had dedicated one of the Celebration Garden flowers to her son Paul, who spent his last weeks in the hospice before he died, aged 34. ... The metal blooms can be purchased by supporters to be brought home at the end of the installation on 31 August. Fletcher said the campaign helped her "cherish memories of a wonderful son" as well as showing appreciation for the compassion of staff.Editor's Note: Go to the photo. See how one simple, accessible idea creates a meaningful, collective, visible way to remember loved ones, raise funds, and give donors a lasting, tangible connection to the hospice. 

JRMC Hospice Memorial Service NewsDakota.com, Jamestown, ND; by Steve Urness; 8/14/2026 Caregivers, families and friends gathered Aug. 11 at Jamestown Regional Medical Center (JRMC) to remember loved ones during a hospice memorial service. Attendees came together to honor and reflect on those who have passed and concluded with the planting of a maple tree in JRMC’s Kornovich Healing Gardens. Members of JRMC Home Health and Hospice, including chaplains, social workers and nurses, spoke during the ceremony. ... Registered nurse Chelsey Duffy. “Hospice is about living every remaining moment with comfort, dignity, peace and love. It is about making sure no one walks this journey alone.” The newly planted maple tree will serve as a living tribute to those remembered during the service, representing both remembrance and renewal.

What to say to someone who is dying, according to hospice workers Time; by Angela Haupt; 8/5/26   In the weeks before Her father died, Sydney Mishkin kept trying to figure out what she still hadn’t told him. She felt desperate to identify the words she might one day regret leaving unsaid. ... “How do you sum up a lifetime of loving somebody into a sentence or two?” she says. ... The answer, according to people who spend their careers alongside the dying, is that you don’t have to. There are words that can bring comfort, invite honesty, and help both of you find peace. But there’s no perfect script—and your presence likely matters more than anything you manage to say.

Hudson Valley Hospice lights the Walkway in Memory of loved ones Times Hudson Valley, Newgurgh, NY; by Mark Reynolds; 8/5/26 The Hudson Valley Hospice Foundation held its second annual Lights Across the Hudson luminary event Friday evening at the midpoint of the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park. The free event offered visitors a chance for reflection, connection and shared memory of loved ones who have died. Thousands of glowing luminaries, each honoring an individual, lined the southern side of the walkway’s 1.28-mile span. ... “Tonight, as the sun sets and the Walkway begins to glow with thousands of luminaries, we are reminded that love does not end when a life ends,” Lisa Wilson, executive director of the foundation said. ... Wilson said each luminary represents its own story. ... Students from Hudson Valley Voices in Harmony, led by choral director Stephanie Hu-Corbett, performed several selections, including “Be the Light.”

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at 100: a legacy that changed how the world faces deathe-hospice; by Ken Ross and Stephen Connor; 7/13/26 On July 8, the world marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the Swiss American psychiatrist whose work helped transform how clinicians, families, faith communities, and societies understand death, dying, grief, and compassionate care. Born in Zurich in 1926, Kübler-Ross entered medicine at a time when dying patients were often kept at the margins of care—physically present in hospitals, yet too often emotionally abandoned. She challenged that silence with a simple but radical act: she listened. Sitting at the bedside of people facing the end of life, she heard their fears, hopes, anger, questions, and need for honesty. In doing so, she insisted that dying people were not medical failures, but human beings with voices, wisdom, and dignity. Her landmark 1969 book, On Death and Dying, grew from interviews with seriously ill patients and introduced a language that reshaped modern conversations about loss. 

The living dead among us - a call to recognize social death ehospice; by Aizaq P. Davis; 8/5/26... In healthcare, we often focus on physical symptoms.

Schoolgirl's response to being told about dad's terminal cancer BBC; by Lauren Hirst; 7/12/26  When Chris Capstick was diagnosed with cancer three years ago, his family made the decision not to use the word c-word in the house. Instead the disease was known as "daddy's little monsters" for the benefit of his two youngest children. ... "It was really, really hard," said the 30-year-old, who works as an arts coordinator for young people but has taken time away to support her husband. ... "Having a six-year-old and a two-year-old, we didn't really know how to navigate it." This is when the idea of writing a rhyming storybook with their eldest daughter Isabella, who is now aged six, was born. "We thought what a great thing to do little cartoon monsters in a way that aren't scary," said Lauren. ... Isabella wanted to write the book from her own perspective with lots of colorful illustrations on each page.   

Hospice doctor reveals the loved ones who will visit and those who won’t in your final dreams Upworthy; by Cecily Knobler; 8/1/26 “They had a pivotal role in the formation of who you were.” ... Hospice physician and neurologist Dr. Christopher Kerr, MD, PhD, recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast to discuss his experiences with people as they neared their last breath. After interviewing over 1,500 patients described as being in “lucid” mental states, he has discovered a common theme among the memories of their dreams. ... “End-of-life experiences testify to our greatest need to love and be loved, ... To be nurtured and feel connected. To be remembered and forgiven. They provide continuity between and across lives. ... The most common thing they would dream about is seeing their deceased loved ones. And it wasn’t just anybody. It was those that loved and secured the most. So there’s almost this form of final justice. If somebody withheld love, one parent, they were excluded, but the one who nurtured and loved and secured was included.”

Medical Aid in Dying Act faces 2 lawsuits ahead of Aug. 5 effective date Spectrum News 1, Buffalo, NY; by Jack Arpey; 7/27/28New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act faces two lawsuits just over a week out from its Aug. 5 effective date, though there are currently no injunctions stopping it from going into effect.An initial lawsuit brought by disability rights groups ... claims that people with life-threatening disabilities belong to a protected class under the Americans with Disabilities Act and are at risk of harm if the law goes into effect. ... In a second lawsuit filed earlier this month, four orders of Catholic nuns and several Catholic healthcare ministries argue that the law infringes on their religious freedoms by forcing them to participate in care that goes against their religious beliefs.

Grief support matters beyond the hospice journey | opinion The Star | USA Today Network via Reuters Connect; by Miral Ackman; 7/26/26August is National Grief Awareness Month, a time to recognize that while grief is universal, every person's journey through loss is unique. I've learned that one of the greatest acts of integrity is continuing to support families long after a loved one's hospice journey has ended. When families invite us into their homes during one of life's most difficult seasons, they place extraordinary trust in us. ... Grief doesn't follow a timeline. It can resurface during holidays, milestones or ordinary moments, and no one should feel they have to face it alone. This National Grief Awareness Month, I encourage our community to make space for conversations about grief. A simple phone call, a listening ear or a kind gesture can remind someone they're seen, supported and not alone in their healing.   

The business case for supporting the growing population of caregiver-employees — and how to do it McKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 7/22/26 Caregiving no longer is just a personal or family issue — it’s increasingly a workforce, financial and health issue — but employers occupy a unique position in their ability to make a meaningful difference in the lives of their employees, according to two new reports. New research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research finds that unpaid family caregivers face greater financial strain, lower retirement confidence and more concern about future retirement risks than Americans who are not unpaid caregivers. Care.com also has released new research focusing on the challenges of caregivers in the sandwich generation, who face simultaneous challenges of caring for aging parents while also raising children.