I attended a tele medicine ethics conference yesterday. Mine was the only remote site attending.
A Hallmark death is
at home
attended by family
expected and imminent
A survey of Veterans Administration patients reveals that a Hallmark death is not the universal ideal.
Some veterans would prefer a Hallmark death.
Some would prefer to "go out fighting" and would fight every step.
Some would prefer a sudden, no warning death.
Conflicts between families of grievously ill patients and medical personnel often related to differences in assumptions about a "good" death.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17040147