Embracing end-of-life choices: A journey with Grandma
By
Steven Littlehale
Feb 02, 2024
At the beginning of the year, my grandmother found herself in an acute-care hospital, addressing blood clots in her legs and lungs. Having just recovered from COVID-19 at the age of 100, uncertainty loomed...
It’s not morbid to talk about death … a lot
By
Steven Littlehale
Dec 07, 2018
It’s not morbid to talk about death, even on the dance floor at your high school reunion.
What ‘do everything’ can mean
By
Angelo E. Volandes, M.D.
Feb 04, 2015
The day I met Mrs. Bartlett at my hospital, she was an 89-year-old long-stay nursing home resident with moderate-to-severe dementia who was being transferred to my hospitalist service for shortness of...
Should we all want to die at 75?
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 30, 2014
Nursing homes would be put out of business if scientists discover how to stop the aging process, McKnight’s Editorial Director John O’Connor wrote in his blog yesterday. But the reverse is...
Addressing quality of death
By
Linda Elizaitis
May 05, 2014
What do you do when a resident crosses the threshold and your organization needs to address quality of death? We all know that there is a great emphasis, appropriately so, on a resident’s quality...
Asking about end-of-life care when patients can still answer
By
Stephan Deutsch, M.D.
Apr 17, 2014
It’s a scene at plays out all too often in hospitals across the United States. A stroke leaves a frail senior incapacitated, lying in a hospital bed. Family members gather around, but no one can...
Why LTC organizations should conduct end-of-life planning conversations
By
Kerry Shannon
Apr 07, 2014
Advance end-of-life planning can spare patients unwanted, aggressive treatments and it can help physicians calibrate care in more reasonable manner.
Expanding support for families
By
Marian Hamilton
Jan 15, 2013
After my husband’s death in 2004, I thought how wonderful it would have been if there were a refuge in a hospital where caregivers could go to “escape” and recharge themselves — an...
Are you ready for The Conversation?
By
Mary Gustafson
Aug 23, 2012
There are few things I loathe more in the world than ice-breaking, “getting-to-know-you games.” The problem is, though, I’m exactly the kind of person who often needs an icebreaker to...
Ethics panels tested as they determine seniors’ final wishes
By
Mary Gustafson
Apr 05, 2012
The thorny matter of a resident’s end-of-life wishes no doubt keeps many people in the nursing home profession up at night. New Jersey is working to firm up a program it has that deploys roving ethics...