Hospice care for children: past, present, and future.

Of the 100,000 children who die each year in the United States, close to 15,000 children could benefit from hospice/home care services. This article describes the concept of pediatric hospice care, reviews the Martinson study that was conducted in the 1970s, gives a chronological report on some institutions that provide hospice care for children in the United States and other parts of the world, and discusses the future of pediatric hospice care.