Latest News On End Of Life

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Prisons Routinely Ignore Guidelines on Dying Inmates’ End-of-Life Choices

KFF Health News Original

Correctional officers often dictate end-of-life care for incarcerated people who are terminally ill. Most states either don’t have a formal policy or are given leeway — a big concern for families and advocates, as the incarcerated population rapidly ages.

California requiere que hospitales recurran a familiares cercanos de pacientes para decisiones médicas, cerrando un vacío de larga data

KFF Health News Original

Desde el 1 de enero, California se sumó a otros 45 estados y al Distrito de Columbia con leyes que permiten a una persona tomar decisiones en nombre de un paciente, incluso si no estaba autorizada por el paciente antes de que ocurriera la situación médica.

California Requires Hospitals to Turn to a Patient’s Next of Kin, Closing a Longtime Loophole

KFF Health News Original

A state law establishes a list of representatives who can make medical decisions for patients unable to convey their wishes. California is late to making the change; 45 other states and the District of Columbia already have next-of-kin laws.

More Californians Are Dying at Home. Another Covid ‘New Normal’?

KFF Health News Original

The proportion of Californians dying at home, rather than in a hospital or nursing home, accelerated during the pandemic, a trend that has outlasted the rigid lockdowns linked to the initial shift.

‘Science Friday’ and KHN: Examining Medicine’s Definition of Death Informs the Abortion Debate

KFF Health News Original

Why is it so hard to agree when life begins? As state abortion laws define it, science, politics, and religion are clashing. KHN’s Sarah Varney shared her reporting with the “Science Friday” radio program.

When Does Life Begin? As State Laws Define It, Science, Politics, and Religion Clash

KFF Health News Original

For decades, the U.S. medical establishment has adhered to a legally recognized standard for brain death, one embraced by most states. Why is a uniform clinical standard for the inception of human life proving so elusive?

Hospices Have Become Big Business for Private Equity Firms, Raising Concerns About End-of-Life Care

KFF Health News Original

Private equity firms are seeing opportunities for profit in hospice care, once the domain of nonprofit organizations. The investment companies are transforming the industry — and might be jeopardizing patient care — in the process.

Black-Owned Hospice Seeks to Bring Greater Ease in Dying to Black Families

KFF Health News Original

National data shows that Black Medicare patients and their families are not making the move to comfort care as often as white patients are. Experts speculate it’s related to spiritual beliefs and widespread mistrust in the medical system due to decades of discrimination.

Aiding Her Dying Husband, a Geriatrician Learns the Emotional and Physical Toll of Caregiving

KFF Health News Original

When the covid pandemic hit, Dr. Rebecca Elon was thrust into a new role, primary caregiver for her severely ill husband and her elderly mother. “Reading about caregiving of this kind was one thing. Experiencing it was entirely different,” she says.

Getting a Prescription to Die Remains Tricky Even as Aid-in-Dying Bills Gain Momentum

KFF Health News Original

Access to physician-assisted death is expanding across the U.S., but the procedure remains in Montana’s legal gray zone more than a decade after the state Supreme Court ruled physicians could use a dying patient’s consent as a defense.

New Legal Push Aims to Speed Magic Mushrooms to Dying Patients

KFF Health News Original

A proposal in Washington state would use right-to-try laws to allow terminally ill patients access to psilocybin — the famed magic mushrooms of America’s psychedelic ’60s — to ease depression and anxiety.

‘I Couldn’t Let Her Be Alone’: A Peaceful Death Amid the COVID Scourge

KFF Health News Original

For three years, staffers at UCLA Health have been quietly fulfilling final wishes for dying patients in the intensive care unit. Amid the isolating forces of the pandemic, their work has become all the more meaningful.