Poll: Americans Avoid Planning For Serious Illness
A majority of Americans say it’s important to write down their medical wishes in case of serious illness, but only a third have done so.
Melissa Bailey
Melissa Bailey was a correspondent for 51ÊÓƵ Health News until October 2019.
Showing 41 - 54 of 54
-
-
‘No One Is Coming’: Hospice Patients Abandoned At Death’s Door
U.S. hospice agencies promise to be available around-the-clock to help patients dying in their homes. But a Kaiser Health News investigation shows that in an alarming number of cases, that promise is broken.
-
As Care Shifts From Hospital To Home, Guarding Against Infection Falls To Families
Despite a lack of medical training, relatives increasingly are assigned complex, risky medical tasks at home, such as maintaining catheters. If done incorrectly, blood clots, infections, even death can result.
-
Dying At Home In An Opioid Crisis: Hospices Grapple With Stolen Meds
As more patients receive hospice care at home, some of the powerful, addictive drugs they’re prescribed are ending up in the wrong hands.
-
Medicare Unveils ‘Skeletal’ Site For Hospice Comparison Shopping
This is the first federal website designed to help families choose a hospice, but experts aren’t impressed.
-
Target Of Medicare Insider Trading Case Boasted He Was Unstoppable ‘Beast’
Prosecutors say hedge-fund traders made millions trading on information leaked from Medicare.
By Christina Jewett and Melissa Bailey -
Influx Of Elderly Patients Forces ER To Practice Comfort Care
Despite a culture clash and lack of time and training, ER doctors see how palliative care averts suffering for elderly patients with serious illnesses.
-
Right-To-Die Fight Hits National Stage
A Republican-led effort to overturn D.C.'s aid-in-dying law may catalyze a broader effort to ban the practice nationally.
-
Trying To Solve The Alzheimer’s Puzzle
Alzheimer's researchers hold onto hope after another promising trial ends in disappointment.
-
Inside Hospital, Families Find Refuge With Recliners, Tissues And Cake
More hospitals, including Montefiore Medical Center in New York, are setting up support centers to help stressed-out family members cope.
-
More Prisoners Die Of Old Age Behind Bars
New data show 4,980 inmate deaths in 2014, the most since counting began in 2001.
-
Victims Seek Payments As ‘Dr. Death’ Declares Innocence
While hundreds of his former patients submit claims for restitution, a Detroit cancer doctor convicted of making millions by purposefully poisoning them with drugs they didn’t need vows to prove his innocence.
-
Elections 2016
After Colorado, ‘Right To Die’ Movement Eyes New Battlegrounds
Colorado’s approval of a ballot measure sets the stage for efforts in other states.
-
Seniors Suffer Amid Widespread Fraud By Medicaid Caretakers
A government watchdog report finds widespread fraud — in some cases involving patients’ severe neglect and death — in a Medicaid program that sends non-medical assistants to elderly and disabled peoples’ homes.
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Stay informed by signing up for the Morning Briefing and other emails: