Posted on 08/15/2008 5:24:34 PM PDT by Daniel T. Zanoza
Editor's Note: This is the fifth in a series of columns first posted on the Illinois Right to Life Committee's (IRLC) website written by Bill Beckman, IRLC's executive director. The column discusses hospice care and gives individuals and families the tools they need to choose a good hospice care provider. This series warns readers about end of life issues and the need to monitor the care given to loved ones. The IRLC director also describes what readers can do to protect themselves from the looming culture of death which permeates the thinking of many medical facilities and health care providers in our nation.
The following was written by Bill Beckman
As I noted in my previous article, the correct answers on reducing or ending treatment of seriously ill patients are often difficult to come by and rarely made with complete confidence. When respect for life has been maintained, but a patient's prognosis is ultimately unfavorable, care requirements for the struggling patient may overwhelm family members. Hospice has been designed to provide relief to help patients live their last days as best as they are able without putting undue stress on loved ones.
As presented on the Hospice Foundation of America web site (http://www.hospicefoundation.org/hospiceinfo/), the principles of hospice state that "hospice care neither prolongs life nor hastens death," and that "the goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of a patient's last days by offering comfort and dignity."
In practice, is hospice true to these principles? ...
(Excerpt) Read more at rffm.typepad.com ...
To whom is Hospice financially accountable? Has anyone ever audited their books?
Where do they get all their money -- and I have reason to believe they are very well capitalized?
In response to your specific questions, I’ve dealt with three hospices, one urban and two rural. The urban one was affiliated with the Catholic Church and the two rural ones were local volunteer organizations.
Here is one of them: http://madronehospice.org/
As charitable organizations they are accountable to their donors through their boards. As tax exempt organizations, the CA Franchise Tax Board is responsible for auditing their finances.
Every rural hospice organization I know of is badly underfunded and needs your support. Madorne Hospice in Yreka gets most of it’s funding from a local foundation but is dependent on their hospice shops and other fundraising efforts to support their programs.
...
Regarding the points in the article, nobody associated with any of the three hospices I have dealt with have ever suggested any steps that would shorten the life of a patient nor have they suggested “terminal sedation” - none of my brothers would have accepted such as suggestion, the problem was getting them to take their pain meds.
No hospice I have dealt with has ever suggested, to the patient or the family, the elimination of any prescribed drugs that the patient chose to take.
Every hospice I have dealt with has been interested in extending the life and supporting the wellbeing of patients to the best of their ability. Emphasis during training was on nutrition, hydration, elimination, pain control and moral support for both the patient and the family. Obviously there are some hospice organizations out there who do not share these ethics and people need to be aware of who they are and what their agendas are.
The Hospice I am familiar had just bought a 14 acre campus to consolidate their diverse holdings in the area.
This was the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, in whose bed Terri Schiavo was starved to death by court order.
From the moment I stepped foot on their property (before Terri Schiavo became a politcal football) I asked myself, "where do these people get their money?"
I presumed that part being a "charitable organization" means that, if the people you provide "hospice care" for decide to write you into their estate, that's perfectly OK.
Here is the difference. All three of the hospice deaths in our family have been in home hospice care.
Hospice volunteers - nurses, sisters, priests/misters and “spiritual councilors” (never figured out what they did) come around about weekly and more frequently toward the end but we were the primary care givers. Some hospice nurses seem to have a sixth sense about where the patient is in the progress of their disease and what their needs are. We, the family, were responsible for making sure meds were taken, meals were eaten, bowel movements took place (my job is the excel speadsheets that keep track of this), the TV and video are available if wanted etc. And we were the ones there at the very end.
I’ve never had any dealings with the hospice business and would prefer not to. I suppose if you had no family or they just couldn’t be available for you then a hospice house might be a good choice but I’d prefer to end my life in my own home if it were at all possible.
I really do think that a home hospice death, though it is definitely harder initially on the family, is the best way to go. And we will all eventually go.
On the day before my oldest brother died he sat in the shade on the deck he had built with his own hands, drank a beer, ate some watermelon and scratched his 14 year old lab behind the ears while we sat with him and talked and his grandchildren played in the yard. He may have lasted another day or two in a hospital but I don’t think he would have died a better death.
In Pinellas County, Florida, where the Hospice I cited is located, corruption goes to the core everywhere: police, sheriff, court, legal profession, hospitals,schools, local government, etc. etc. et-freaking-cetera. No reason to think Hospice should be immune.
It was the perfect place -- maybe the only place, at the time -- where the death cult could meet with government in a ball financed by who knows who and dance on Terri Schiavo's grave.
It's a very sick place.
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