Maggie's Farm

IMHO hospice is torture. Probably not the hospice Ms Bush will receive but the send you home to die and we will check on you once a week to see if you are dead yet hospice that everyone else gets is not "humane". Sadly I don't have a better answer except maybe .357.

Essentially you are right. But understand that if you are on Medicare you MUST go home. You cannot stay in the hospital even if the doctor would prefer that you do. AND IF YOU CHOSE hospice you cannot go back to the hospital even if you have a serious medical issue while at home. You are not supposed to call 911 or have the EMTs come help, because... you chose to go home and die.

Sadly I don't have a better answer except maybe assisted suicide.

I feel compelled to say something good about hospice because there is something good to say.

They did provide the bed and medical equipment to help the caregiver and the patient. They did have a nurse show up and I think it was twice a week and she did spend 45 minutes to an hour with the patient and the caregiver (my wife). They provided a volunteer to bath the patient and stuff. They had some serious pain medicine, a patch, delivered as needed.

But it was a long process with no hope and no training or backup. We were on our own.


One family member who was in hospice passed away and I'm guessing it was simply that the pain medication made her so groggy that she didn't drink enough fluids and her caretaker wasn't aware enough so she died from dehydration. That's my guess. I would never say that to the person taking care of her. Again no training no real help so mistakes are made.

Let me give some examples: My mother in law was placed in hospice and may well have lived weeks, months longer. But she didn't. She died within a week. Most probably from dehydration because her pain patch made her incapable of choosing to drink water and the total and complete lack of training and preparedness of the care giver allowed her to think "mom" was resting and all was well if she wasn't complaining. There was no doctor after the decision to use hospice and there wouldn't be any doctor no matter what happened. That is the hospice agreement, i.e. you are sent home to die and we will not send help if things go bad. There was no nurse, it all happened quick enough that no nurse was scheduled for weekly visits yet.

If you are on medicare in a hospital for any of those illnesses that likely results in death they WILL send you home without regard to whether or not it shortens your life or that there isn't adequate care at home. The law requires the hospital to discharge the patient; it is a cost saving feature of Medicare. If you are sent home on hospice you are advised to not call 911 if things suddenly go bad because the patient is expected to die and it probably won't be pretty.

This is the reality of hospice. The visiting nurse is nice but her primary duty is to make sure the patient is adequately drugged so that they feel no pain. The patient could be bleeding from every orifice and the nurse would and could do nothing. The patient is there to die, period.

One other important little known factor. If you are on Medicare and are hospitalized the hospital is on notice that the clock is ticking and they need to decide what to do and discharge you as soon as possible. AND if your are discharged you cannot be readmitted for the same problem/illness within the next 6 months. Most people do not understand this; that when you agree to this hasty discharge you also agree that if it all goes bad at home that's just too bad.