Contributor
Janet Hribar Hull
Janet Hribar Hull, RN, BSN, draws on forty years of emergency-room nursing to write about end-of-life care, medical technology, and the human side of dying.
Emergency nursingEnd-of-life carePalliative care
Janet Hribar Hull, RN, BSN, is the author of Magic Light: Seeing the Signs That Say a Lifetime May Be Ending Soon. Her work draws on forty years as an emergency-room nurse caring for patients and families at the boundary between lifesaving treatment, comfort care, and the natural completion of life.
Published work
Articles by Janet Hribar Hull
13 pieces
The Light Changes Before the Day Is Done
After forty years in emergency nursing, Janet Hribar Hull explains the “magic light” that can reveal what matters most as a life nears its end.
CPR Is a Miracle Until It Is Not
CPR can save a life—but when illness is irreversible, families need an honest account of what resuscitation can and cannot restore.
When More Treatment Creates Less Life
The hardest medical question is not whether more treatment is possible, but whether its burdens will consume the life it is meant to preserve.
Love Holds On; Attachment Cannot Let Go
When someone is dying, love and the fear of loss can pull a family in opposite directions. The patient’s wishes must remain the compass.
A DNR Order Is Not a Care Plan
A do-not-resuscitate order answers one narrow question. Patients and families still need a positive, individualized plan for care.
Your Last Days Still Belong to You
Advance directives matter, but the conversations behind them are what keep a person’s values present when they can no longer speak.
The Missing Middle Between Cure and Hospice
Palliative care can begin alongside treatment, helping people manage symptoms and make decisions long before hospice is appropriate.
What a Peaceful Death Asks of the Living
A peaceful death may require preparation, skilled symptom care, and the courage to accompany someone without demanding a particular ending.
She Had One Last Promise to Keep
When a dying woman pleaded for doctors to stop, her daughter had to choose between one more surgery and the promise she had made.
The Day Three Children Came Back
An ER nurse remembers the frantic rescue that revealed both the miracle of emergency medicine and the bonds formed at death's door.
His Last Request Was a Coca-Cola
At 88, facing a breathing machine he knew he would never leave, Walter made one final decision for himself.
What She Told Her Children After Their Father Died
In one family's worst moment, a mother's words turned sudden loss into a final expression of gratitude and love.
The Diagnosis, the Tractor, and the Chair
A lifelong farmer recognized three signs that his life was winding down, and chose a different kind of care for each stage.