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.
One family took up the challenge of taking their mother, who had serious medical problems and the coronavirus, from the hospital to die at home. But because of the risk of infection, home hospice can be a daunting experience.
Elizabeth and Robert Mar would have celebrated 50 years of marriage in August. Instead, they died within a day of each other. Their two very different deaths illustrate how palliative care is changing to help patients and families cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Barbara Dreyfuss died March 1 after contracting COVID-19 at a Seattle-area nursing home. Her earlier decision to document her final wishes may offer an example for families as the deadly virus spurs interest in end-of-life care.