A hospice can make the decision to accept a patient that does not meet the normal criteria for their services.
One of my closest friends has a 11 year old child with Cerebral Palsy, last year his son suffered a type of stroke that some CP patients suffer from. This time, the child lost his ability to swallow foods and a feeding tube was inserted (no, his father will NOT starve him to death). Because the stroke caused other neurological problems as well as the adjustment to the feeding tube, he was placed in hospice care to stabalize his condition prior to returning home. He remained for 45 days then went home.
We are in Florida and I do not know if hospices in other states can do the same. The hospice he was in isalso a private facility which might have something to do with it.
Federal law requires terminal illness (a six-month life expectancy) in hospice patients and Terri is on Medicaid. Florida hospices can accept stroke victims and others, probably only if those patients are privately funded. At least, that's my understanding of what I've read from the statute and from some of the hospices' websites.