  In this paper, we report an extensive analysis that we performed in two
scenarios where the care relation between doctor and patients are mediated by
the relatives of the patients: Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) and Nursing
Homes (NH). When the patients are children or very old adults in the end of
life, the provision of care often involve a family caregiver as the main point
of contact for the health service. PPC and NH are characterized by emotional
complexity, since incurable diseases expose the family caregivers to heavy
careload and human distress. In this paper, we discuss our findings with a
novel perspective, focusing on: information, coordination and social challenges
that arise by dealing with such contexts; the existing technology as it is
appropriated today to cope with them; and what we, as software researchers, can
do to develop the right solutions.
