Healthcare providers might think that families whose loved ones are admitted to palliative or hospice care units for end-of-life care have a reasonable idea of what type of care will be provided; however, this is often not the case. Sometimes families or family healthcare proxies have false expectations or are misinformed, which can be particularly challenging to manage when this is superimposed on strong cultural, religious, and other confounding belief systems. These situations can also tax the healthcare staff, who need to balance meeting the needs of the dying patient with the needs and expectations of the family as much as possible, all while maintaining professional, ethical, and legal standards within the context of good and appropriate palliative and hospice care. The author presents two cases that exemplify the types of conflicts that may arise in palliative and hospice care settings when family healthcare proxies have unrealistic expectations and make inappropriate care demands of the healthcare staff.