Palliative Care News

A new study looks at "pre-loss grief" for people whose family members had advanced cancer or dementia.

In a survey of 371 hospices, 31% reported at least one case in which drugs were taken from a patient in the past 90 days. The thieves were most often relatives.

Investigators at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, found caregivers lost between 2.5 to 3.5 hours of sleep a week due to difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.

Only two out of five older adults with significant disabilities have the assets on hand to pay for at least a couple of years of extensive in-home care, researchers found.

But some experts worry that the new law will also make desperate, frail patients vulnerable to more harm, with FDA oversight taken away.

Researchers find value for extremely ill patients and their caregivers, but add that it doesn't affect survival

Colorado Voters Approve Aid-in-Dying Measure

Family members may pressure doctors to attempt heroic interventions, researcher says

Move triples percentage of terminally ill patients in U.S. who will now have this option

Such programs improve quality of life for folks caring for terminal cancer patients, study finds

Findings suggest they understand limits of modern medicine better than the patients they treat do

Doctors need to heed preferences of patients, prepare for end of life sooner, experts say

Relieving symptoms and stress helps families as well, study says

Patients and loved ones found greater comfort spending final days together in familiar place

Doctors can now prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill

A third die within a week of beginning palliative care, experts say

Care preferences, prognosis, values, fears important to the ill and their family

Study found inability to distinguish odors predicted higher odds of dying over next 5 years

Costly treatments are not always in line with patient's prognosis, researcher contends

Almost a third of patients didn't get palliative care until final three days of life, often after ICU stay

Though doctors nearly universally agree that helping patients die without pain is a more important goal than doing everything possible to prolong their lives, many say it can be tough to talk to patients about palliative care, a new poll shows.

Most people with serious illness -- and half of their caregivers -- don't get palliative care. Only 7 states get an "A" rating; 25 get a "B," 12 get a "C," 4 get a "D," and two (Delaware and Mississippi) get an "F."

A study suggests that preparing an advance directive can help shape your overall experience at the end of life.

Talking about end-of-life care and having advance directives doesn't make death come any more quickly, according to a new study.

Listening to recorded music or working with a music therapist may reduce anxiety levels of cancer patients and have other positive effects as well, a new study shows.