Aid-In-Dying Laws Only Accentuate Need For Palliative Care, Providers Say

KFF Health News Original

Doctors who minister to seriously ill patients say the flurry of aid-in-dying laws show just how afraid people are of a painful death, and how important it is to ease their suffering.

Small Coastal California Town Fights To Keep Hospital Afloat

KFF Health News Original

Tourists love the Mendocino coast for its redwoods, surf and charm. But the battle to keep one town’s only hospital afloat is pitting hospital administrators and doctors against each other.

Deficiencies In End-Of-Life Care Extend Across Ethnicities

KFF Health News Original

A small study in the San Francisco Bay area suggests that various ethnicities share some of the same goals when it comes to end-of-life care. Often, though, they don’t get what they want.

New Brain Institute Plans To Refocus Third World’s Attention On Dementia As ‘Societal Issue’

KFF Health News Original

The institute, which is being launched by the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Dublin, aims to help developing countries deal with rising numbers of cases.

Survey: Low-Income Elderly Reject Calif. Managed Care Experiment For Fear Of Change

KFF Health News Original

About 47 percent opt out of California’s “dual eligibles” program serving Medicare and Medicaid patients, in part because they fear losing their doctors, a survey finds. But once enrolled in the pilot program, most stay.

In L.A., Community Health Workers Are Part Of The Medical Team

KFF Health News Original

An experimental program in Los Angeles County pairs community health workers with chronically ill patients, aiming to improve patients’ health and access to care.

California’s Right-To-Die Law Sparks Reaction

KFF Health News Original

Scott Shafer of KQED and The California Report hosted a special radio broadcast on California’s landmark aid-in-dying law, and talked to reporter April Dembosky, advocates and critics of the law, and the husband of the woman whose lobbying — and death — sparked the debate.

Leslie Michelson’s Checklist For Avoiding Diagnostic Errors – The KHN Conversation

KFF Health News Original

Michelson, who runs a Los Angeles-based company that helps patients research their medical options and has written a book about how to avoid bad care, offers advice on how to navigate the health care system.

California Gov. Brown Signs Aid-in-Dying Bill Into Law

KFF Health News Original

Brown said that he weighed the controversial issue carefully, and in the end decided that it would be a comfort to know the option was available if he were facing a painful, prolonged death.