Most of us will eventually reach a point where medical intervention is outmatched by advanced age, illness, or both. It is at this point where meaningful conversations between physicians, patients and their families are crucial. Why then do medical schools and residencies offer their trainees little to no formal guidance on how to facilitate end-of-life…

Allison Durant’s mother died on the heels of her high school graduation. For years before, Jane had been absent from Allison’s life, mostly in hospitals, fighting a losing battle with lung cancer. Allison’s teenage invincibility gave her the strength to brush her mother’s death aside and throw herself wholeheartedly into her own hectic life. Soon…