To go gently into that good night: When quality of death can enhance quality of life

Globe and Mail: Andrée Hoffman lay on a gurney, the outline of her body visible under a floral comforter. Her daughter Basia Hoffman, in her 50s, was a few feet away, playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano, hours after her 90-year-old mother's death. No one was in a hurry to go to the funeral home.

When the time finally came, those who loved Ms. Hoffman gathered around her body for a procession through the halls of Toronto's Kensington Hospice to the front door. In her final days, the staff had given her oxygen to ease her breathlessness, narcotics to help with pain and baths to keep her clean. They even cooked breakfast for her family – the scent of pancakes and eggs lingered in the air, a smell of home.

“You almost feel guilty,” said Basia's sister, Tatiana Hoffman, 56, “because they make it so beautiful and wonderful. But I feel so much relief she is out of pain.”