Too many patients, too little time. Sandra Clarke, a nurse in Eugene, Ore., looked in on a patient not expected to live through the night. "Will you sit with me?" he asked.

Clark assured him that she would, but that first she had to check on her other patients. Ninety minutes later, she hurried back to the man's room — only to discover he had died.

Those feelings of responsibility and compassion — from Clarke and from other patient advocates — have given birth to a movement spreading to U.S. hospitals across the nation. The goal: to ensure every patient has a fellow human being at his or her bedside at the time of death.

"The two things people fear the most about dying are being in pain and being alone," Clarke says. "We try to honor the wishes of the dying."

And a surprising number of people don't have family members available to them — whether because of sudden, catastrophic accidents or physical or emotional distance.