Hospitals and Healthcare

As the Delta variant surges across the US an ICU physician recalls the horror of the first Covid wave

Senior mortician Hannah Leahy says the level of Covid fatalities is taking its toll on staff the Royal London Hospital.

These families are turning their grief into action to save themselves and others — and to begin to heal our collective trauma.

Cancer Council says people nearing death want to be with those they love rather than be isolated and lonely

Kate never imagined there would come a time when she would call someone to tell them their loved one is gravely unwell but that they can't come and see them.

As a junior doctor with an interest in palliative care, I have seen more death than most twenty five year olds. Despite its place in the medical school curriculum, nothin

Kim Bieber is in palliative care with terminal cancer, but she says the painful isolation from her family due to social distancing was far worse than the risk of catching coronavirus.

Trish Skinner and her husband sit on a couch, flip open their iPad cover, and open Zoom. Skinner is attending her father's funeral. Dozens of relatives will join her on this call.

One hundred miles away, near the southern English coast, someone holds up an iPhone as a coffin containing the body of Herbert John Tate, 103, is lowered into a wet, clay-lined grave.
The Zoom call is as much closure as Skinner, 72, can get -- at least for now.
"It's not how it's supposed to be," she says. "There's no interaction, physically. And that's the biggest thing that's missing during this terrible time."

I watched my father die of this disease. Here's my story.

Some hospitals are stocking enough iPads to rival a modest Apple store. But the reason for this reflects a grim reality: They're being used to connect Covid-19 patients with their families -- sometimes, for the last conversation they'll ever have.

We can strike a balance between minimising transmission risk and practising compassion to allow loved ones to visit patients with COVID-19 in ICU at the end of their lives.

My patients and their families are facing the sudden decline that can occur in people with COVID-19, and many are not prepared.

If I had the choice I’d be staying at home like everyone else during the coronavirus crisis. But that would be selfish