Near death experiences (NDEs) can occur during life-threatening events. In this article, we present preliminary findings from a case study series. We highlight experiences of children that are synchronous with the basic elements of near death experiences (NDEs) and discuss how children describe their own experiences. Children reported unsolicited NDE type experiences that included out of body experiences, bright lights, bedside visions, bi-location and visiting celestial places. The aim of the article is to show that children are an important research population for the study of near-death experiences. Children\'s near-death experiences are simple and carry transcendental features such as a peaceful darkness, a knowing awareness and time alterations. Children assign a subjective reality to their near-death experiences. Younger children may demonstrate a visual NDE semiosis which warrants further investigation. The aim of the article is to demonstrate the value for involving children in NDE research through participatory and creative research methods.

The suffering experienced by some patients at the end of their lives can lead to a wish to hasten death (WTHD). It is sometimes an existential suffering, refractory to palliative care even if well conducted, which leads to this desire. Since several years, in psychiatry, the rapid anti-suicidal effects of a single injection of ketamine have been proven. WTHD and suicidal ideation have similarities. The injection of a single dose of ketamine could have an efficiency on the desire to hasten death.
We report the case of a woman with advanced breast cancer expressing a WTHD, treated by ketamine.
A 78-year-old woman expressed a WTHD (request for euthanasia) because of existential suffering following a loss of autonomy related to cancer. The suicide item was 4 on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). She had no associated pain or depression. A single dose of intravenous ketamine 1 mg/kg over 40 min plus 1 mg of midazolam was injected. She had no adverse effects. From D1 post-injection to D3, the WTHD disappeared completely with a MADRS suicide item at 0. At D5, the WTHD started to reappear, and at D6, the previous speech was completely back.
These results suggest an effect of ketamine on WTHD. This opens up the possibility of treating existential suffering at the end of life. The optimal dosage of this treatment would have to be determined as well as a maintenance of efficacy scheme.

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The worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has exposed healthcare workers (HCWs) to physical and mental disorders both directly and indirectly related to the pandemic. Italy was the first European country affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and Italian HCWs have presented adverse psychological outcomes related to work and emotional overload and the fears of becoming infected and infecting others, particularly loved ones.
We report the case of a 61-year-old HCW who likely infected her husband with SARS-CoV-2, leading to his death. We assessed the depressive and anxious symptoms that the patient experienced after the death of her husband, which were characterized by a deep sense of guilt, psychological pain, and thoughts of death.
In our opinion, our case emphasizes the fact that HCWs need greater mental health assistance, particularly those who are heavily involved in the care of patients and who have possible risk factors for psychiatric symptoms.

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Death is defined biologically as the irreversible loss of the functioning of the organism as a whole, which typically occurs after the loss of cardiorespiratory function. In 1968, a Harvard committee proposed that death could also be defined neurologically as the irreversible loss of brain function. Brain death has been considered to be equivalent to cardiorespiratory arrest on the basis of the belief that the brain is required to maintain functioning of the organism as a whole and that without the brain, cardiorespiratory arrest and biological death are both rapid and certain. Over the past 20 years, however, this equivalence has been shown to be false on the basis of numerous cases of patients correctly diagnosed as brain-dead who nevertheless continued to survive for many years. The issue reached national attention with the case of Jahi McMath, a young woman diagnosed as brain-dead after a surgical accident, who survived for almost 5 years, mostly at home, supported with a ventilator and tube feedings. The fact that brain death is not biological death has many implications, notably including the concern that procurement of organs from brain-dead donors may not comply with the so-called dead donor rule, which requires that vital organs be procured from patients only after they are dead. In this article, I conclude with an analysis of options for moving forward and among them advocate for reframing brain death as a \"social construct,\" with implicit societal acceptance that patients diagnosed as brain-dead may be treated legally and ethically the same as if they were biologically dead.

The stigma experienced by cancer patients stems from the association of cancer with death, as cancer is the most feared disease worldwide, especially among cancer patients and their families. The stigma regarding breast cancer screening behaviour has not been critically evaluated and is poorly understood; therefore, we aimed to analyse the stigmatization of breast cancer patients in Indonesia to reduce the morbidity and mortality of breast cancer.
A qualitative study using a focus group discussion (FGD) and in-depth interviews with thematic analysis was conducted.
One informant experienced breast pain and kept the referral letter, in which the medical doctor advised medical treatment, to herself for 3 months due to her embarrassment. A traditional healing practice known as \'kerokan\', which involves scraping of the skin, and consumption of a traditional drink were used by most informants to decrease their breast pain. Finally, most informants were diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer when they returned to the health care facility. In addition, financial difficulties were noted as barriers to breast cancer screening in Indonesia.
Feelings of fear and shame when diagnosed with breast cancer were reported by the informants in this study. Alternative treatment known as \'kerokan\' was the first treatment sought for breast cancer symptoms due to financial difficulties among breast cancer patients. Informants were diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer after they returned to the health care facility. A better understanding of early breast cancer symptoms could motivate women to seek out breast cancer treatment.

Caring for the dying patient can be stressful for nursing students. The purpose of this study was to describe a multimodal educational intervention designed to improve nursing students\' attitude toward care of the dying patient and the family. Sophomore nursing students participated in an interactive end-of-life (EOL) lecture and simulation. A quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest design with a convenience sample was used for this study. Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying version A was used to measure attitudes toward care of the dying patient before and after educational intervention. In addition, students were given an open-ended questionnaire to reflect on their perceptions of the EOL experience and a demographic questionnaire. A paired t test revealed a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest (t50 = 3.1, P = .003) on the Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying, suggesting that students gained a more positive attitude toward caring for the dying patient. Three themes emerged from the content analysis and included knowing what to say and how to offer presence, becoming emotionally prepared, and learning skills to comfort. The use of lecture and simulation allowed students to assimilate the knowledge and affective skills needed to provide quality EOL care.

When a new, brain-based definition of death was proposed fifty years ago, no one realized that the issue would remain unresolved for so long. Recently, six new controversies have added to the debate: whether there is a right to refuse apnea testing, which set of criteria should be chosen to measure the death of the brain, how the problem of erroneous testing should be handled, whether any of the current criteria sets accurately measures the death of the brain, whether standard criteria include measurements of all brain functions, and how minorities who reject whole-brain-based definitions should be accommodated. These controversies leave little hope of consensus on how to define death for social and public policy purposes. Rather, there is persistent disagreement among proponents of three major groups of definitions of death: whole-brain, cardiocirculatory or somatic, and higher-brain. Given the persistence and reasonableness of each of these groups of definitions, public policy should permit individuals and their valid surrogates to choose among them.