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"Where the hospice may well be in trouble is that they accepted Mae as a patient - as 'terminal' on the say so of the granddaughter's claim that she had medical POA - and they did not verify."

BINGO.

I think the hospice got caught with pants down around the ankles. That's part (but not all) of the store here, which must be followed through. I believe this has been posted before but it's worth repeating:

[SNIP]
Hospice that enrolls Non-Terminal Patients Commits Fraud

The United States Office of Inspector General has issued its warning to the public about questionable hospice agency practices and stated that some hospices have been found to engage in, "practices which ... have inappropriately maximized their Medicare reimbursements at beneficiary expense. These practices include: Making incorrect determinations of a person’s life expectancy for purposes of meeting hospice eligibility criteria." A hospice that bills Medicare, Medicaid or a private insurer for a non-terminal patient is violating the contracts which allow hospices to provide services for the terminally ill.

Hospices are not licensed to care for the chronically ill. In order for a patient to be admitted to hospice, the physician must "certify" that the patient is likely to die within six months due to a terminal illness.

Original Hospice Mission Violated

The original hospice mission is to care for, support and manage the symptoms of the terminally ill until a death occurs in its own natural timing. Every hospice nurse and physician knows that hospice is supposed to neither hasten death nor seek to cure the terminal illness. Hastening the death of a patient goes against everything hospice stands for.

Although Terri Schiavo's case will be decided in a Pinellas County courthouse, any hospice that accepts a chronically ill patient has violated not only the spirit of hospice and the mission of hospice, but the **federal regulations** governing hospice. [END SNIP]

Read entire article here:
http://www.hospicepatients.org/terri-schiavo-10-12-02-press-rel.html