Death & Mourning

Losing a grandparent can be a difficult thing for a child. And it’s difficult for us as parents, because it means we have also lost a parent (or a father-in-law). And it’s hard to know how to...

An urn stores the ashes after a person passes away and is cremated. An urn usually looks similar to a vase.

Erythema multiforme is a skin condition that can occur in babies at any time throughout their infancy. This condition may cause discomfort for the baby, but it is not long lasting in most cases.

When a loved one has Alzheimer's Disease, the family member or spouse caring for her grieves throughout the period beginning at diagnosis, and after the person's death. Because Alzheimer's takes...

Dealing with the loss of an infant can be a devastating blow and one that is hard to overcome. When you are a family member or friend of a mother going through such a terrible experience,...

Dealing with the loss of a parent can be devastating at any age. For a child, the loss of a parent is extremely traumatic mixed with feelings of extreme guilt: the sense that they are being...

Hospice care provides many benefits to patients and their families, despite some of the negative perceptions people have of such care. A physician or health care professional will generally look...

When hospice care is indicated for a terminally ill patient, the hospice care providers will create a plan that is specific and individualized for the patient and his family. Hospice plans are...

An obituary serves as one of the last written records of a person's life. It reflects their accomplishments, hobbies, interests and generally lists their family members and close friends....

Within a few hours of person's death, the body begins to stiffen. This is due to the loss of a protein in the muscle tissue known as ATP, which allows muscles to contract. This stiffening process...

Losing a spouse can be one of the most traumatic events you can ever experience. There is nothing to prepare you for the onslaught of emotions that follows such a loss and many people find...

Many times children suffer pain and sorrow. More than not, that pain and sorrow is caused by a lose. That lose can be from an actual lose of life or from something or someone not being in the...

Senior citizens may be hesitant to become organ donors because they believe they are too old to donate. But experts say that one can never be too old to donate organs.

Adults have the choice to accept or reject suggested medical treatment. A medical directive is a document that records your wishes should you become unable to express the choices yourself.

End of life issues are often complex and heartbreaking but must be dealt with in a positive, controlled manner. Numerous end of life issues could be possible depending on the individual, but most...

You may be sharing days or weeks with a dying person. What can do besides just talk to them? How do you come up with activities that will have real meaning?

When a loved one dies, understanding the written information included on their death certificate is essential. Not only does the death certificate give you the time and location of death, but also...

People donate their organs for a variety of reasons, typically centering on a desire to help others. Others are more reluctant, because of fear stemming from a lack of awareness about organ donation.

Hiccups--spasms of the diaphragm leading to audibly irregular breathing--are not life threatening. Hiccups typically occur in limited episodes, going away by themselves or addressed through minor...

When a loved one is terminally ill, or an elderly family member is rapidly declining, and death looms closer with each passing day, there are certain stages caretakers and others close to the...

Many people prepare for their own funerary arrangements in the years before their deaths. Making your own funeral arrangements is a way to retain control over your final resting place and...

When a person is approaching the end of life, he may display some or many of the following most common symptoms. These symptoms may indicate end of life is near. Just as one symptom may indicate...

Death is a universal constant---it happens to everyone and everything sooner or later. And even though death is unique to each person, there are certain changes that people go through if they have...

Dealing with a parents death is not easy at all.

With endless amounts of information about grief available on the Web, sorting through it can be overwhelming. In addition, so much is standardized and clinical, and real life isn't so tidy. One...

Children often express grief in short bursts, unlike adults whose emotions are intense and continuous. They don't know how to express their grief verbally and, as a result, may withdraw, begin...

Many people speak of donating their bodies "to science" after they die, but what does this actually mean? Can you choose the medical or scientific processes for which your body is used? What...

Providing end-of-life care for a loved one is not an easy task. In addition to seeing to his or her physical needs you may have many questions and emotional needs of your own to deal with. Try...

Grief is a natural consequence of loss. Whether a person experiences the loss of a loved one, a close friend, a pet , a home or a job, each experiences grief. The impact is different, and each...

Once a patient reaches the stage of her illness and becomes a candidate for hospice care, it's obvious not only to their medical care providers, but to family members and friends as well that the...

Personally helping or knowing anyone going through grief counseling is not easy. People deal with grief in different ways. Every individual's reactions are different when dealing with a loss, and...

Death is a permanent separation of us from our loved one. But how can one some up the words to write, to express the grief of the tragedy that is suicide. To write any obituary is to realize that...

Grief is a natural emotion when there is an unexpected death or a diagnosis of a terminal illness. To help alleviate it, Kara Grief Support provides various services that are designed to ensure...

There is no single correct way to express your gratitude to those who have shared your pain at the loss of a loved one. A card should be mailed to those who sent flowers, attended the funeral or...

A few years ago my 80-something mother cancelled her annual visit chez moi, here in Provence, because France was in the grip of a granny-killer heat wave, and when the time comes she wants her...

No one likes to think about death. When a loved one has no plan, someone is enevitably stuck with this task. If someone is you, here is a quick introduction to the process.

Basic life support is a type of medical care used on someone with a life-threatening injury or condition until full medical care can be given. An emergency responder or someone trained in BLS can...

Grief is a universal human experience, yet it remains an extraordinarily complex and difficult-to-define topic. There is no universally accepted definition for grief, but it can be described as...

Whatever you may be holding onto,whether it is a relationship that is going no where, a bad job, guilt, regret, remorse, or something as simple as a piece of clothing, sometimes you need to just...

A variable life insurance policy is a unique type of life insurance policy whose cash value varies depending on the performance of the underlying investments.

When an old friend has died, you may wish to find word of it in a local newspaper. Obituaries are designed to convey the achievements and accomplishments of the deceased, as well as a sense of who...

If a person is to be buried, the deceased needs to be first placed in a casket. Caskets range greatly from quite simple to extravagant. Basic caskets are generally plain wooden boxes, while more...

It doesn't take a special day to miss loved ones who've passed away, but most people would agree that it's more difficult to deal with grief while the rest of the world is celebrating. Here are...

When a person dies, it can cause a lot of emotional pain. However, there are ways to prepare yourself emotionally for this event before it does happen. There are also ways to deal with any pain...

The top of the casket is made of rectangular slats. They are slightly rounded and each has a tongue on one side and a groove on the other side. The tongue is a piece that sticks out, and the...

It's an unfortunate fact that almost everyone experiences grief at some point. For many people, how they grieve is often affected by the opinions of those close to them and of society in general....

At some point you may be confronted with the need to place an obituary in the newspaper. Painful though this occasion may be, you will find that newspapers stand ready to help you through...

Chances are, you've spent the better part of your life taking care of others. Now is the perfect time to take care of YOU!

There is no way to prevent the suffering that accompanies divorce, but there are ways to help children through it. The way you explain your divorce to your children sets the tone for the family...

Choosing the right life insurance policy for yourself and family is an important process. There are many different types of policies to choose from, so you have to determine which one is the best...