Hospice: What Is It?
Hospice: What Is It?
By: Peter Egan
In this article the author explains exactly what hospice is, what it's not, and clarifies a number of longstanding misconceptions about palliative care and hospice.
Notably, most hospices are for-profit, and those that are not still have to generate enough revenue to offset expenses.
That having been said, electing to transition from curative measures to hospice doesn't mean that some healthcare workers are going to come in and perform some kind of legal euthanasia. They can't. The reason is that hospices are paid, usually by Medicare in the U.S., based on how long they provide care. If your loved one has four months to live based on their medical prognosis and assuming the disease runs it's normal course, a hospice agency isn't going to do anything to reduce those four months by even a day.
While it is true that hospice does not provide curative treatment and will refrain from artificially extending a patient's life, they aren't going to do anything to shorten it either.
What they (the hospice agency) will do is ensure the patient is in a state of optimal comfort for the remainder of his or her life through the use of medical equipment, supplies and medications.
They will provide a social worker to help the patient get his or her affairs in order in terms of both a will (for inheritance) and a living will (instructions for what the patient wants done should misfortune render the person unable to communicate).
Additionally, hospices should provide (or at least offer) spiritual guidance by way of an ordained minister; as well as psychological help in the form of a licensed therapist to help the surviving family work through the grief and bereavement associated with the loss of a loved one. This does not end when the patient dies. These services should be made available to surviving family members for at least a year following their loved one's passing.
Hospices will also train the patient's family and/or primary caretakers on what to do and when with regard to administration of medications and other hands-on care necessary when a person nears the end of his or her life.
They have knowledge about the situations likely to arise, potentially at a time when no employee of the hospice is present in the home. They share this knowledge with the patient's family or caregivers so that they're ready if and when something happens. In summary, hospices are designed to make terminally ill people comfortable during the final days, weeks or months. They provide training on how to care for the patient to the family of said patient, and offer a spiritual advisor and a licensed therapist in addition to nurses and other healthcare professionals who provide specialty services.
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