Literature Review

Sen. Baldwin demands investigation into veteran care failures at Tomah VAWXOW-19 ABC, Tomah, WI; by Terry Bell; 9/21/26 U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is calling for an immediate investigation into serious allegations about the failure to care for veterans and unacceptable conditions at the Tomah VA Medical Center. Baldwin is asking Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to conduct a full review of staffing levels, provider coverage, medication delays, hospice care and patient safety at the Tomah VA Hospital. She's also requesting the VA Office of the Inspector General conduct an independent investigation. Baldwin's office heard from several Tomah VA employees who outlined severe lapses in patient care at the hospital. The allegations include inadequate staffing contributing to falls, injuries, food choking incidents and other adverse patient outcomes. [View recent incident:  Former VA nurse charged with intentionally abusing hospice patient]

The dark side of full patient autonomy Medscape; by Lisa O'Mary; 9/14/26 Paternalism is out. Shared decision-making is in. But some communication and ethics experts say medicine is veering far too much toward full patient autonomy. A new review in the journal Health Communication found that clear delivery, active listening, and empathy were associated with patient trust. Obvious? Probably. But here’s the twist: The authors also found that paternalistic styles didn’t always harm trust — and even aided shared decision-making in some situations, particularly in contexts such as emergency care, serious illness, and end-of-life decisions.

Squirrel Hill nursing home sued over man's hypothermia death hoodline, Pittsburgh, PA; by Samantha Davis; 9/2/26 George Agie was 78 years old, living with heart failure, a seizure disorder, and end-stage renal disease, when a paramedic crew found him inside a bitterly cold room at Squirrel Hill Wellness and Rehabilitation Center on January 29, with a core body temperature of just 82.2 degrees. He died less than two months later, and now his sister is suing the facility, claiming a malfunctioning heater and inattentive staff let a survivable situation turn fatal. ... Agie remained hospitalized through February 16 before being discharged to receive hospice care at home, where he died on March 24. 

Mercy Hospice change in operator created conditions that posed ‘immediate jeopardy’ to patient well-being, state regulators say The Journal; by Jessie Bowman; 9/1/26 The ownership transition of Durango’s hospice program created serious problems in patient care and organizational oversight, according to state inspections that found multiple deficiencies and twice determined patients were at immediate risk of serious harm or death. In October 2025, the for-profit arm of the national CommonSpirit Health system – CommonSpirit Health at Home – took over ownership of the Mercy Hospice program. CommonSpirit assured the community the quality of care would not decline as a result of the transition. ... However, in May, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment conducted two concurrent relicensing inspections that found the ownership transition created system-wide deficiencies that led to clinical care practices and poor organizational oversight that put patient health and safety at serious risk. 

A retrospective mixed-methods analysis of falls among patients in a social model hospice residential care home American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Carol S. Weisse, PhD, Kelly Melekis, MSW, PhD, Lam Nguyen, Cort Collier, BS, and Nadia Kelley, MPH; 8/9/26 ... In the 24-hour period prior to patients’ falls, opiates were shown to be the most frequently administered medication followed by benzodiazepines, with higher rates of falls among patients who consumed both of these medications in combination. Most falls occurred in the bedroom or bathroom and were related to toileting needs. Results suggest that informal caregivers may benefit from additional training when supporting hospice patients’ toileting needs, especially when they have received opiates and benzodiazepines. Results illustrate caregivers’ efforts to balance fall risk with patients’ desire for autonomy as a central element of home hospice care. Editor's Note: What systems do you have in place for reporting, responding to, and reducing patient falls, especially in homes? At a minimum, you need to have these in place:

Dignity shouldn’t depend on having an address: Holly Klein The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH; by guest columnist Holly Klein; 7/5/26 As a hospice nurse for more than 25 years, I’ve cared for people surrounded by family -- and I’ve cared for people who had no one. Today, as executive director and co-founder of Grace House Akron, I care for people who are experiencing homelessness, abandonment or extreme social isolation at the end of life. We provide a home and hospice care at no cost because we believe one simple truth: No one should die alone. I've cared for people living in motels, sleeping in shelters, staying in abandoned buildings or moving from one temporary place to another while facing a terminal illness. ... Hospice is not a place -- it's a model of care. But our healthcare system assumes everyone has somewhere safe to receive it. Many people don't.

HMN 2026: How AI in nursing raises questions about safety, ethics, and human care Health Medicine Network; by University of Pennsylvania, George Demiris et al; 6/26/26 As artificial intelligence systems spread through hospitals and clinics, a growing debate is emerging over whether the technology will ultimately strengthen nursing care—or gradually replace parts of it. That tension is at the center of a new University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing report, “Artificial Intelligence and Nursing Science: Opportunities, Challenges, Implications, and Guidelines,” published in Nursing Outlook. The paper warns that while AI could reduce paperwork and improve patient monitoring, it also raises concerns about bias, accountability, patient privacy and whether hospitals may view some nursing functions as replaceable.

During Garden Grove evacuations, did seniors and people with disabilities get out safely? The Almanac; by Kelley Barrett; 6/16/26 When officials ordered tens of thousands of residents to evacuate during the Garden Grove chemical emergency in Orange County last month, the instruction sounded simple: leave now. But for many Californians, leaving is not simple. For some, it is impossible without help. Think about the bedridden senior who relies on a caregiver to be turned, cleaned, fed and medicated. What happens to the disabled resident whose power wheelchair cannot fit in a regular car, the hospice patient on oxygen, or the medically fragile person who cannot safely sit for hours in a crowded shelter?

We couldn't afford to pay for my mom's dementia assisted living anymore. She moved into a tiny house next door to me. Business Insider; as told to Noah Sheidlower; 5/31/26 This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lori Bufka, 64, who is caring for her mother with dementia in Arizona. Assisted living became too expensive for her mother, so Bufka moved her into a trailer next to their home, where her mother would have enough space and safety. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Editor's Note: From this essay, "She went into hospice care, and we hired someone to come for a few hours a week. It was supposed to be $37 for two hours, but when I got the bill, they tacked on mileage, so it became $92. We figured it wasn't worth it, so now hospice volunteers visit every now and then, and hospice covers medically necessary appointments. ..."

Edmond police grant hospice patient’s dream ride-along News9.com, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; by Micah Wilson; 5/21/26 Olivia Snyder, a 23-year-old Edmond woman receiving hospice care, fulfilled her longtime dream of joining an Edmond police ride-along after years of battling rare medical conditions. ... Snyder said she has admired law enforcement since childhood and even trained to become a private investigator. [Descriptions of her illness ...] Now receiving hospice care through Heart to Heart Hospice, Snyder said she has finally begun to feel seen as a person rather than a patient.

New tech lets home carers and hospice providers communicate better, more safely Columbia Basin Herald Local News, Wenatchee, WA; by Joel Martin; 5/6/26 Anyone who’s ever had to deal with communication between medical providers, home caregivers and Medicare or insurance knows the frustration of trying to get everybody on the same page. A new system debuted by Confluence Health is expected to make those connections easier and safer. “Suppose a patient fell and (injured themselves) and they go in for (treatment),” said Adam MacDonald, corporate communications program manager for Confluence Health. “This is going to make it so their home health and hospice nurses are looking at the exact same record.”

OHSU grapples with falling rank on patient safety measures OPB, Oregon Health & Science University; by Amelia Templeton; 4/27/26 [The context begins with an "abrupt firing" of the CEO for OHSU Health. The excerpt below is further into the article, with relevance for hospice providers and your partnerships with hospitals.] Mortality — the number of observed patient deaths versus the number expected — was the other major contributing factor to OHSU slipping in Vizient’s ranks. Edwards shared several caveats with the board as to why she believes OHSU is performing better than its ranking indicates, particularly on the mortality score. For example, some patient deaths may have been counted differently by Vizient due to the closure of a hospice program. That could account for up to a third of the change in OHSU’s mortality grade, she said. And an internal review of the mortality data suggested that some OHSU patients’ medical charts weren’t accurately capturing how sick or complex they were.