![Closeup of a nurse holding the hand of a dying patient.](https://assets.medpagetoday.net/media/images/94xxx/94340.jpg)
As COVID-19 began rapidly spreading across the U.S., hospitals adopted policies that prohibited patient visitation — a move that was designed to prevent the spread of the virus and ensure the safest environment possible. A year and a half later, we are battling new variants of COVID-19 and finding ourselves in the same predicament: nurses are serving as surrogates for family members as patients take their final breaths so they won’t die alone. Read more…