Bereavement Resources

Advanced care planning (ACP) is the essential process of discussing and documenting an individual’s future medical care preferences. The process engages patients, families and providers in conversations regarding the medical wishes or goals of the patient and how we can best respect and honor that person.  

Having these conversations before someone needs advanced medical care helps reduce stress for not only the patient but their loved ones as well, especially in times when the patient is seriously or critically ill. This may also reduce unnecessary hospitalizations or interventions that the patient would not want and ideally improve the patient’s quality of life.  

Advanced care planning includes creating advanced directives (such as a living will) and signing a health care proxy form.  

A living will is a document outlining an individual’s preferences for medical care should they become seriously ill and are unable to make informed medical decisions. This document includes preferences regarding life-sustaining treatments, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), mechanical ventilation, and artificial nutrition/hydration.  

A health care proxy form names a trusted person (agent) to make medical decisions on the patient’s behalf if the patient is unable to make their own medical decisions. It allows the healthcare agent to speak with medical personnel and direct care, including life-sustaining treatment decisions based on the patient’s wishes and access medical records.

For the health care proxy form to be binding, the individual must sign the form in the presence of two adult witnesses. The health care proxy becomes activated in cases where medical providers determine that the individuals themselves are unable to make or communicate their own healthcare decisions. Healthcare providers and facilities must follow the designated health care proxy form, and designated agents must ultimately honor the patient’s wishes.  

You can find the health care proxy form and more information on this process on the Massachusetts Medical Society website. 

Boston Medical Center Care Management social workers partner with patients to support dignity, safety, and the best possible outcomes during some of life’s most difficult moments.

Care Management social workers at BMC promote health and reduce inequities by advocating for, educating, and empowering patients and families. We provide resources that support your access to care and help reduce barriers to quality health services. We also work with teams across the hospital to help them understand how illness or injury may affect a patient’s family, employment, housing, and overall wellbeing.

The team is made up of master’s-level clinicians whose work is informed by the social determinants of health — the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age — including socioeconomic status, education, environment, employment, social support, and access to care. We use this framework to understand you and your loved ones experiences and to inform compassionate, equitable care.

Learn more about our department and services. 

The Employee Resilience Program offers emotional debriefing with licensed mental health clinicians for BMCHS teams following challenging events on campus. A debriefing allows space for your team to begin processing the critical incident and to receive support around recovery from stress. These emotional debriefings can be used when for when a patient passes away, when you experience the loss of a colleague, or other significant events.

To request an emotional debriefing, please email resilience@bmc.org.  

The Palliative Care Team assists patients and families in living the best quality of life that they can when facing serious illness. Our providers assist with symptom management for pain and other symptoms and discuss patient and families' wishes or goals of care to help determine what medical treatments are appropriate for them.  This promotes dignity and respect for all individuals.

Palliative care can be provided at any stage of a serious illness and is used with other medical treatments.

The palliative care team consists of physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, chaplains, and other providers. Palliative care not only focuses on the physical needs of the patient, but their psychological and spiritual needs as well.  

The Palliative Care team works with the medical team on various issues, including:

• Pain management
• Other symptoms such as dyspnea, nausea/vomiting, anxiety, insomnia, delirium, fatigue
• End-of-life care
• Convening family meetings
• Clarifying goals of care 

As members of the hospital's interdisciplinary team, chaplains respond to the spiritual, emotional and religious needs of patients, families, and staff. We are trained to provide support to people of all faiths or of no faith.

Chaplains are on call 24 hours a day and respond to inpatient and outpatient referrals. We may perform baptisms, baby namings, blessings, marriages, and end-of-life rituals or memorial services. We also provide support to patients and families making difficult life decisions or experiencing traumatic events and consultation for staff members looking to provide religious and culturally sensitive care for patients.

Each BMC Health System hospital has a spiritual care program:

• Boston Medical Center
• BMC Brighton
• BMC South