Literature Review

Civil rights activist Elmore Nickelberry dies at 92WREG Channel 3 TV, Memphis, by Megan Fayard and Ashley Paul; 12/30/23MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Elmore Nickelberry, a civil rights icon who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the fight for higher pay and better working conditions for sanitation workers, has died at the age of 92, according to his family. ... [He] went into the hospital around Thanksgiving ... Soon after, he was placed in hospice.

Doctors are pushing Hollywood for more realistic depictions of death and dying on TVKQED, by April Dembosky; 12/28/23We've seen it so many times. A young, handsome man rushed into the emergency room with a gunshot wound. A flurry of white coats racing the clock: CPR, the heart zapper, the order for a scalpel. Stat! Then finally, the flatline. This is Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider's biggest pet peeve. Where are the TV scripts about the elderly grandmothers dying of heart failure at home? What about an episode on the daughter still grieving her father's fatal lung cancer, ten years later? "Acute, violent death is portrayed many, many, many times more than a natural death," says Ungerleider, an internal medicine doctor and founder of End Well, a nonprofit focused on shifting the American conversation around death.

Year in review, one word, and an exciting announcement for 2024Teleios TCN Talks, by Chris Comeaux; 12/27/23In this TCNtalks podcast episode, host Chris Comeaux delves into a recap of the top podcasts of 2023, covering a diverse array of critical topics such as staffing challenges, Medicare Advantage, future trends, mental and emotional health, and reimagining the future of hospice and palliative care.

End-of-life clinicians are trying to shift Hollywood’s depiction of deathDeath is often depicted in TV and movies, but some clinicians say not very accurately. They’re trying to shift the way Hollywood represents it.NPRDecember 3, 2023YESHA RASCOE, HOST: We’re used to seeing death on TV and in the movies, but some clinicians who work with people at the end of life say the most common depictions aren’t representative of what happens in the real world. They’re trying to shift the stories we tell about death to help people cope better.[Editor’s Note: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded a similar effort 20 years ago called “Last Acts.”][Editor’s Note: To listen to the 4-minute report, click here.]

UCP Developing Scripted Series Based On ‘The In-Between’ Memoir From Hospice Nurse Hadley VlahosDeadlineDecember 1, 2023The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments, a book about death, written by hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos is set to be turned into a scripted series. UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, has landed the rights to the project in a competitive situation. In The In-Between, Vlahos recounts the most impactful experiences she’s had with the people she’s worked with—from the woman who never once questioned her faith until she was close to death, to the older man seeing visions of his late daughter, to the young patient who laments that she spent too much of her short life worrying about what others thought of her—while also sharing her own fascinating journey.