Gentle Endings

People are often woefully ill-prepared for death, even when there is adequate advanced warning. Gentle Endings aims to help, by providing information for you and your loved ones about different aspects of dying. Items covered include grieving, hospice services, recommended reading (including book chapter extracts), links to useful sites, and so on.

Here is a comprehensive guide to many aspects of end of life care, taken from an important source, the Handbook for Mortals. You will find useful answers to many of your questions. Click here.

Successful grieving is facilitated when the grieving person doesn't mask the pain, anger and anxiety of loss. Dealing with these emotions are essential to prepare the sufferer to decide to recover from grieving. Click here.

When a friend or loved one grieves, it can be frustrating for those of us who want to help. Here are some suggestions for those who want to know what they can do to help grievers. Click here.

Hospice organizations have become established in many countries. They are designed to serve the physical and emotional needs of dying patients and their loved ones. Here are some brief descriptions of Hospice systems around the world. Click here.

Petra Hillinger is a journalist who volunteered to help at the Caritas Socialis Hospice in Vienna, 6 years ago. She has written a series of moving articles that describe some of the people in her care during this time. Click here Click here.


	Pain is probably the most feared symptom that cancer patients experience. Here is a summary of recent views on the management of cancer pain - its assessment, the choice of painkilling drugs, dosing routes and schedules, non-drug therapy, and so on. It is reassuring to learn that, today, pain due to cancer can almost always be managed successfully by an expert team approach. Click here

Anyone who's in good health can make a Living Will (i.e. complete an advance directive), but it is especially recommended for the elderly and for people with known medical problems. The process of making a Living Will provides an excellent opportunity for the sick and elderly to have good conversations with family members and their regular physician about medical care and to better define their ideas for quality of life. This article looks at advance directives in more detail. Click here.


	We have heard much about the power of prayer, usually based on anecdotal accounts. We present here the summary of a scientific study of the association between churchgoing and survival. This study provides evidence of the benefits of one particular religious behavior, and may encourage those who are seriously ill to seek spiritual comfort, whatever their religious belief. Click here


	Health reporter Laura M Schmidt was 51 when she got the news that she was likely to die from pancreatic cancer within 6 to 12 months. She's decided to tell her story, hoping it may help improve communications between patients and their health professionals at this critical time. Here's the first instalment. Click here


	Health reporter Laura M Schmidt recently heard that she's likely to die from pancreatic cancer within 6 to 12 months. Here's the second in a series of articles she's writing about the importance of good communication between patients and their health professionals at this critical time. Click here