Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider (right) interviews comedian Tig Notaro about drawing humor from her breast cancer diagnosis. Ungerleider is the founder of End Well, a nonprofit focused on shifting the American conversation around death. Their discussion took place in November at End Well's 2023 conference held in Los Angeles. Britney Landreth for End Well hide caption
Hospice provides vital end-of-life support and palliative care to terminally ill patients. But it's costing Medicare billions. A new approach would eliminate waste in the program. Westend61/Getty Images hide caption
The sign for Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center is seen on Google Earth. The facility pronounced a living woman dead and is being fined $10,000. Google Earth/Screenshot by NPR hide caption
Audrey Grinker receives a visit from her doctor after friends found her on the floor of her apartment, she had mixed up her medications and became very ill. She was acting out in the hospital, trying to escape, sitting on the floor near the nurses' station, and walking into other patient's rooms. Aventura Hospital, Miami, Fla., March, 2017. Lori Grinker hide caption
Assistant Director of Nursing Jenn Schmid is in one of Livingston HealthCare's two ICU rooms. Before COVID-19, Schmidt's job was mostly administrative — but she stepped in to fill the hospital's need during the area's coronavirus surges. One duty she took up was spending time with families as they said farewell to loved ones through the ICU's glass windows. Nick Mott for NPR hide caption
Dr. BJ Miller's new project, the Center for Dying and Living, is a website designed for people to share their stories related to living with illness, disability or loss, or their stories of caring for someone with those conditions. Simon & Schuster hide caption
Maxine Stanich celebrated her 90th birthday with friends and family in 2010, more than two years after her implanted defibrillator was deactivated by Dr. Rita Redberg to comply with Stanich's "do not resuscitate" directive. Courtesy of Susan Giaquinto/Kaiser Health News hide caption
Doctors in Miami found that a man's tattoo expressing his end-of-life wishes was more confusing than helpful. Gregory Holt/The New England Journal of Medicine hide caption
Earl Borges, now 70, conducted river patrols in the Navy during the Vietnam War. These days, he says, symptoms from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and ALS can intensify the anxiety he experiences as a result of PTSD. Courtesy of Shirley Borges hide caption
Helping her father die at home "was the most meaningful experience in my nursing career," said Rose Crumb. She went on to found Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County in Port Angeles, Wash. Dan DeLong for Kaiser Health News hide caption
The Rev. Noel Hickie was working as a hospital chaplain when he met Marcia Hilton, a bereavement counselor at a hospital in Eugene, Ore. For 25 years they often worked together on hospice teams. Courtesy of StoryCorps hide caption
John Minor (center) in December 2014, surrounded by his family — Jackie Minor (left), Soren Johnson, John Minor, Sherry Minor, Skyelyn Johnson and Valerie Minor Johnson — in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Kimberly Sienkiewicz/Courtesy of the Minor family hide caption
Dad called these "his and hers chairs." He would sit beside Mom, his partner and wife of 34 years, as they got their weekly chemotherapy treatments. Howie Borowick had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and wife Laurel was in treatment for breast cancer for the third time. For him, it was new and unknown. For her, it was business as usual, another appointment on her calendar. Nancy Borowick hide caption
As baby boomers age, more older Americans are visiting the emergency room, which can be an overcrowded, disorienting and even traumatic place. Heidi de Marco/Kaiser Health News hide caption
Annette Schiller of Palm Desert, Calif., who was 94 and diagnosed with terminal thyroid and breast cancer, had trouble finding doctors to help her end her life under California's new aid-in-dying law. Tana Yurivilca/Courtesy of Linda Fitzgerald hide caption
Adox and Michaeli with their son, Orion, in the winter of 2015. Courtesy of Christine Gatti hide caption
The Rev. Josephine Falls handed out stickers to voters while accepting ballots inside the Denver Elections Division offices on Tuesday. Marc Piscotty/Getty Images hide caption