Insufficient training for palliative care professionals
Finland – YLE
Medical professionals who care for the dying must often make decisions based on their own intuition because their training doesn’t sufficiently prepare them for palliative care. It’s estimated that only one third of patients in Finland receiving end of life care get the specialised treatment they need.
A racial gap in attitudes toward hospice care
US – New York Times
Hospice use has been growing fast in the United States as more people choose to avoid futile, often painful medical treatments in favour of palliative care and dying at home surrounded by loved ones. But the Harrises, who are African-American, belong to a demographic group that has long resisted the concept and whose suspicions remain deep-seated.
They help HIV patients lead dignified lives
Times of India
Thanks to the palliative care facility of SVYM, bedridden patients and their families get support. The facility, apart from taking care of patients, also helps their family members to avail governmental benefits.
The unbearable weight of dying
Singapore – Straits Times
Some people facing death want to fight it at all costs. Some want to choose the time and manner of their exit. There is a third way that allows the dying space to die – with kindness.
Assisted dying leaves vulnerable at risk, warns alliance of doctors
UK – Daily Telegraph
Allowing doctors to help terminally ill people to take their own lives would ‘devalue the most vulnerable’ in society, a group of physicians has warned.
Talking about death – when do we begin?
US – Huffington Post
In our society, many individuals don’t even begin thinking about death until they are greeted by it on a personal level. In some cases, people won’t begin thinking about death and their immortality until they are faced with a life-threatening illness.
St Leonards hospice may take year to reopen after fire
UK – BBC News
A hospice damaged by fire in which two people died may take up to a year to reopen. The blaze at St Michael’s Hospice, in St Leonards, meant patients, staff and the fundraising operation had to be moved quickly to other temporary sites.
Mary Washington Hospice sessions provide patients with ‘a way of living’
US – Fredricksburg.com
Like many of the patients who receive services from Mary Washington Hospice, Lanette Lutz didn’t know what to expect when doctors said they could no longer treat her congestive heart failure. The 68-year-old reluctantly contacted the hospice agency in December.
Five ways to use music at the end of life
ehospice Canada
Music has a rich and valuable role to play at the end of life. When we are involved in someone’s dying process, music can add a richness to this mysterious, often painful, and very often beautiful experience.
Irish musician opens conversation on grief with release of moving video
ehospice Ireland
An Irish musician’s music video showing the heart-breaking reality of grief has amassed over two million views after it went live earlier this week.
Can health care be cured of racial bias?
ehospice USA
Hospice and palliative care providers have long worked to reach underserved communities and populations that do not fully access end of life care. This article published by Kaiser Health News looks at the issue of racial disparity within the overall health care system in the US.
Ensuring St Mary’s Hospice is fit for the future
ehospice UK
Tina Swani, chief executive at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, writes for ehospice about their ambitious plans to improve palliative care locally and how the newly created role of director of nursing and service transformations fits into plans to ensure the hospice is ‘fit for the future’.
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