For Patients and Families

Resources on Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Patients and Families

The decisions that patients and families make regarding palliative and end-of-life care are critical to ensuring that medical treatment and individual quality-of-life wishes are properly carried out. As difficult as it may be, having conversations and documenting decisions will ensure that wishes are honored and care is delivered in an appropriate manner.

The links below provide resources to help educate patients and families on palliative and hospice care.

For Patients:

• Communication with Your Family and Your Doctor about Your Wishes - American College of Emergency Physicians
  
  
• Decisions About End-of-Life Care - JAMA Patient Page
  
  
• Palliative Care is Different from Hospice - Center to Advance Palliative Care
  
  
• How to Get Palliative Care - Center to Advance Palliative Care
  
  
• End-of-Life Decision Making - Family Caregiver Alliance
  
  
• Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services - Medicare Hospice Benefit Brochure
  
  
• Consumer’s Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning
  American Bar Association
  
  
• Caring Connections
  National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
  

For Families:

• End of Life: Caring for Your Dying Loved One - Mayo Clinic
  
  
• End-of-Life Care for Children With Terminal Illness - Nemours Foundation
  
  
• If You or Someone You Love is Very Ill...Ask Tough Questions - National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
  
  
• Terminal Illness: Interacting with a Terminally Ill Loved One - Mayo Clinic
  
  
• Educational Video: Dealing with Dying - National Healthcare Decisions Day
  New Jersey Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, New Jersey Hospital Association and New Jersey State Bar Association
  
  
• Making Medical Decisions for a Loved One at the End of Life
  American College of Physicians
  

The provision of the above links is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute the Department's endorsement of the organization or the content, materials or documents posted on its website, for which each organization is solely responsible.