Literature Review

[United Kingdom] New end-of-life checklist designed to remove stress in time of crisis Independent; by Aine Fox; 10/27/25 Marie Curie has published an end-of-life checklist to encourage the public to think about their end-of-life care. The list, curated by clinicians, covers everything from wills to wakes and what we might want to happen to pets and social media accounts when we die. The document features five categories, including legal and money matters, people, pets and things important to me, an advance care plan, my funeral, a wake or celebration of life, and making and leaving behind memories. Editor's Note: To download USA Advance Directives for each state, visit (1) CaringInfo (set up by NHPCO 15+ years ago), A Program of the National Alliance for Care at Home, or (2) AARP's Find Advance Directives Forms by State (uses CaringInfo's form, but more user-friendly navigation).

Stitched with love: Allied’s memory bears offer comfort to grieving families in Northeast Pennsylvania WVIA News - PBS/NPR, Scranton, PA; by Lydia McFarlane; 10/27/25 Barbara Rushinski received a bear made of her partner’s pajamas after he passed in hospice care at Allied Services. She was so moved, she put her sewing skills to good use and joined the team of volunteers making the bears for grieving families in Northeast Pennsylvania. ... Allied offers its memory bears to grieving families whose loved ones died in hospice. ... Joyce Wizda started the program at Allied more than six years ago when she joined the healthcare system as a social worker. ... She estimates the volunteers make about 150 bears a year. ... Wizda encourages families to send in clothing items from their loved one’s closet to ease their grieving journey.

Hospice chaplains play key role in addressing emotional pain, VITAS spiritual lead explains McKnights Home Care; by Foster Stubbs; 10/26/25 In hospice care, maintaining the comfort and dignity of the patient are top priorities for clinicians. But there are some aspects of the end-of-life experience that they are not equipped to handle. That’s where hospice chaplains like Jason Cooper, national spiritual lead at VITAS Healthcare, come in.  ... In hospice care, maintaining the comfort and dignity of the patient are top priorities for clinicians. But there are some aspects of the end-of-life experience that they are not equipped to handle. That’s where hospice chaplains like Jason Cooper, national spiritual lead at VITAS Healthcare, come in. In his role, Cooper supports over 300 chaplains and spiritual caregivers and up to 23,000 patients with terminal diagnoses nationwide. 

Pumping irony: When the hospice is inhospitable Experience Life; by Craig Cox; 10/22/25 ... University of Michigan researchers, reviewing the health records of some 139,000 hospice patients diagnosed with dementia, found that nearly half of them were given benzodiazepines, a class of drugs designed to relieve agitation and anxiety. ... The results, in many cases, were deadly. ... “For patients who are not actively dying, patients and families may prioritize preserving cognition, communication, and function — goals that may be compromised by sedating medications,” she writes. “This further underscores the need for dementia-specific hospice interventions to help offer scalable, nonpharmacologic approaches, to equip hospice clinicians with effective alternatives.”

Veterans with burdened caregivers more likely to enter nursing homes, study findsMcKnight's Home Care; by Foster Stubbs; 9/30/25Veterans whose family caregivers reported higher emotional burden and depression were more likely to be admitted to nursing homes after three-year follow-ups, according to a September study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.Publisher's note: Perhaps higher emotional burden and depression among family caregivers of veterans occurs in hospice, too.

Why doctors hesitate to say ‘I'm sorry’ after errorsMedscape; by Paolo Spriano; 10/17/25Apologies are commonly defined as “a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure; a formal, public statement of regret.” In healthcare, apologies offered with honesty and transparency are an essential part of addressing medical errors. An effective apology acknowledges what happened, accepts responsibility, and expresses sincere regret for the patient’s suffering. When done properly, an apology can have profound healing effects for everyone involved. For clinicians, it can help ease feelings of guilt and shame; for patients, it can foster forgiveness and form the basis for reconciliation.

How to talk to your loved ones about end of life wishes Those Nerdy Girls; by Rebecca Raskin-Wish; 10/17/25 It’s important to have discussions about what you want the end of your time on earth to look like and have a healthcare proxy and an advance directive in place. When my sister and I were teenagers, my mom sat us down, and in a potentially more dramatic fashion than the moment called for, she said, “Girls, my death could happen any moment, and we need to talk about it.” ...

An age-old fear grows more common: ‘I’m going to die alone’ Miami Herald; by Judith Graham, Kaiser Health News; 10/17/25 This summer, at dinner with her best friend, Jacki Barden raised an uncomfortable topic: the possibility that she might die alone. “I have no children, no husband, no siblings,” Barden remembered saying. “Who’s going to hold my hand while I die?” ... It’s something that many older adults who live alone — a growing population, more than 16 million strong in 2023 — wonder about. ... More than 15 million people 55 or older don’t have a spouse or biological children; nearly 2 million have no family members at all.

Should doctors show more empathy?Pain News Network; by Carol Levy; 10/6/25So many of us have complained, rightly so, about doctors not listening to us. They often ignore our words... Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Boston, has taken steps to incorporate empathy into the doctor-patient experience. The hospital’s patient intake forms have two questions designed to build empathy. The first is “How would you like to be addressed?”... The second question is “What is your main concern for this visit?"

[England] Ambulance team uses advanced ultrasound to help frail patients avoid hospital trips Emergency Services Times; by James Devonshire; 10/16/25 The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) is using cutting-edge medical technology to help elderly and end-of-life care patients receive treatment in their own homes, reducing the need for hospital admissions. The service’s advanced practice (urgent care) team has introduced point of care ultrasound (POCUS)—a portable diagnostic tool previously reserved for critically ill patients—to assess bladder and urinary conditions safely and effectively in community settings. Using the handheld Butterfly ultrasound device, paramedics can perform scans and interpret results via software on iPads, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnoses.

Stories from an accidental Hospice Nurse by Shawn Brast, MSN, RN, CHPN ehospice; by Shawn Brast, Clinical Education Manager at Gilchrist Hospice in Baltimore; 10/9/25 ...  The strangest thing happened: after 30+ years in healthcare, I found my calling as a hospice nurse. Routinely, I am granted special access to some of the most intimate moments in patients’ and families’ lives. With my short experience as a hospice nurse, I have come across some awe-inspiring moments that have provided life lessons that must be shared for the greater good. ... [Shawn describes several hospice stories with his insights.] These types of “Aha!” moments continued since these three experiences, but it was these three experiences that set my direction to answer my calling. In doing so, I am becoming a better person, clinician, educator, researcher, student, husband and father.

Stiff person syndrome in the hospice patient: A case report and discussion  Journal of Palliative Medicine; by Molly Svendsen, B Parker Layton, Shiri Etzioni, Mark Edwin; 10/13/25 Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS) is a rare, progressive autoimmune neurological disorder characterized by painful spasms, muscle rigidity, and heightened sensitivity to external stimuli. Management often relies on therapies that fall outside standard hospice formularies, creating challenges in end-of-life care for affected individuals. ... This case highlights the need for flexible, patient-centered approaches in hospice care for rare neurological conditions like SPS. Continuation of disease-specific therapies for symptom palliation can be ethically and clinically appropriate when integrated with clear goals of care. 

The unacknowledged grief oncologists face and the need for closure Medscape; by Mark A. Lewis, MD; 10/8/25 Hello, Medscape. It's Mark, and I just got back from a patient's funeral. I know — even for an oncologist, that sounds grim, but I have my reasons and I'd like to explain them to you. ... One of them is deeply personal. When my father died, his oncologist came to his memorial service, and that made a huge impression on me. I was 14 years old at the time. ... Now, there's a whole other video to be recorded, if not a whole book to be written, about how a patient dying shouldn't necessarily be viewed as a failure. Immortality, after all, is never the goal. ... I've been absolutely astonished by what I've learned about my patients posthumously. ... Most meaningfully, you get to witness the ripple effect of the patients on their families who love them and who will carry on their traditions and even some of their character traits.