Fran Smith
Writer, Editor, Consultant
Writer, Editor, Consultant
Contributing editor, Center for Health Journalism. Independent journalist, author, editor and communications consultant who helps people (including other writers) to tell their stories. My articles on health and medicine have appeared in hundreds of newspapers and dozens of magazines, including National Geographic, Psychology Today, O: The Oprah Magazine, Forbes, Prevention and Redbook. My most recent book, Changing the Way We Die, was an Amazon best seller and a winner of an Independent Book Publishers Award. Written with my friend and longtime colleague Sheila Himmel, the book examines the evolution of hospice from a movement for compassionate end-of-life care to a profitable and troubled industry. Before venturing out as a freelancer, I worked for years as a newspaper reporter and editor and was part of a Pultizer Prize-winning team at the San Jose Mercury News.
A new study reveals just how often teens and young adults receive opioid prescriptions in emergency rooms, even as the crisis of addiction has exploded.
"The first measles vaccine was licensed the following year, in 1963. I found it wondrous to think that no more kids would get sick, as I had."
Serving diverse communities requires more than translating the words of hospice into different languages. It demands a nuanced understanding of culture and values. Otherwise, hospice may look like withdrawing treatment and giving up hope.