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Its not in the interests of a hospice to hasten a death when you think about it because they get reimbursed at a daily rate, so if the patient dies too early that reimbursement (read revenue stream) will cease. What hospices do is what I have heard described as allowing a natural death. Simply put, when curative medicine is no longer working or appropriate then the palliative care on managing symptoms and ensuring comfort are paramount. The data seems to suggest that the life expectancy is about the same, or marginally higher for the hospice patient, but there is no clear causal evidence that I can see. My experience with hospice is that their focus is not on promoting early death, but the natural death that most of us would prefer
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Our experience with hospice with my MIL was wonderful. She was in a free-standing hospice after discharge from a hospital stay and before that she was in a NH. She died within a couple of weeks into hospice. My mom is in a NH for a couple of years now and is not on hospice as she medically is not at that level (she was evaluated for hospice in 2011 after a brief hospitalization). I've found the evaluation process for hospice is not taken lightly and if they qualify, then the reality is they are terminal and sooner rather than later. I think that for many the reality that in order to be in hospice is to recognize that they or their family member is terminal is hard to accept. There often seems to be alot of second guessing of what hospice is or (more likely) isn't doing as many do not understand what palliative care means. Hospice - which is paid for by Medicare - is all about palliative care only and anything that promotes cure cannot be done in order to be within compliance for Medicare.

Hospice is an option. It is not required that the elder participate. It may not be the best fit for you & your family if you all have strong feelings about doing everything medically for the person at all costs and up until the end.
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By the way, when I wrote "help a person die" I definitely did not mean to promote or hasten his death, but rather to ease fear and pain and avoid unnecessary discomfort.
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Well my mom is on hospice they have ordered that feeding cease and she be given morphine and adivan round the clock for comfort the problem is she still eats when feed so I don't get why they don't want her to eat anymore if. She still can
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Trunner - it could be that her dementia is at the point where the brain in not sending the information to the rest of the body to start whatever is needed to digest food in the stomach. Yes she can "feed" but the food cannot process. This could lead to her aspirating into her lungs. Hospice doesn't want this to happen so no food. Ask them directly what is happening with her processes breaking down. If you just absolutely feel the need to feed her, I'd do simple liquids.

Be prepared if she is close to the end, for her having times of being completely lucid and cognitive - almost as if the veil of dementia gets lifted from her. When this happens they will seem totally 100 &2% OK. The change can be frightening too - my MIL was this way the last time 2 of the 3 sons saw her. She was her vain, demanding self. And then she died a few days later. Just Spooky.
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Trunner, what is your agenda? You pretend that you are caring for your mother in the present tense, then you tell us that she died on May 4th and speak of her in past tense. Then you warn us about Hospice.
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It may be hard to accept, but remember that the purpose of hospice is not to keep people alive as long as medically possible (when there's no hope of recovery) but to help a person die naturally, at his or her natural time, without pain or anxiety.
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hospice makes good sense in many cases simply because a return to the hospital would result in the same diagnosis as before. theres just nothing to be done to improve an eighty year old diseased brain or heart.
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I had hospice for both my parents. They were wonderful. Both my parents were kept pain free, and as far as helping me they did too. My hospice was located in west Caldwell nj. Hospice is there to help. I do think the choice should be the person who is dying to end their life or not. NJ should make it legal. Hospice just keeps a person comfortable. That is what I wanted for my parents, and they got it.
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former hospice RN. Hospice have huge lobby in Washington. Insurances and Medicare love hospice because it saves them billions, yes billions,, per year. Hospices receive around $800 per day that a patient is in hospice, compared with a one day hospital stay for a critically ill elderly patient costing insurance companies, and/or medicare approx. $20,000 per day or more. People don't realize that "no life prolonging measures", can even mean no antibiotics given for infection, no intervenous fluids, if they are dehydrated(maybe they are vomitting, or just too weak to drink water), no surgery--if a patient has an infection that needs to be drained, or tumor removed from an area of the body which is causing patient to suffer, etc. Anyone admitting a family member should go over EVERY detail of what types of care the hospice is going to provide. For instance, YOU can insist, on a feeding tube, antibiotics, IV fluids, surgeries performed to help alleviate a patient's pain--not to prolong their life per se. And you can change it at any time. Just because you agree at admission that you don't want a feeding tube, or antibiotics, doesn't mean you can't insist on those things 3 days later. Don't assume that hospices will "do what's best " for your loved one. They will do what's most cost effective for them. Whether a hospice is a for profit or a non-profit doesn't make a difference in what kind of care the patient receives; Non-profits want to make money just as bad as the for profits, because the executives are paid astronomical salaries (of large hospices), depending on how much the company makes net, per year.
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