By Rosemary Baughn Yancey Farrington, a Marine veteran with renal failure, has one final wish. “My son barely knows who I am,” he told Joseph Vitti, a New York hospice worker and a fellow veteran. “All I want—what would be a million bucks for me—is for the Marines to present him with

By Susan R. Dolan “He did what?” “Ms. Miller’s son Bruce punched his sister in the face!” the breathless social worker called to tell me. “A nurse called the police; they arrested Bruce and rushed his sister Tracy to the emergency room. At least she was already in the hospital!

By Stephanie R. Caudle “You’re going to have to seek hospice care” are words no family or patient wants to hear when dealing with a debilitating illness. In 2012 it was reported that

By Scott A. Irwin, MD, PhD, and Bradley T. Rosen, MD, MBA

By Rosemary Baughn Mrs. J. was in the advanced stages of congestive heart failure, and her condition was worsening. Although it was clear she didn’t have long to live, her son was adamant: He did not want hospice care for his mother. Looking for a way to bridge the divide, the clinicians