From what I understand....Hospice requires the patient/family to relinquish all control FROM the physician TO Hospice. I know that if someone is heading to Hospice....they are going to die....how fast, well...it seems it’s up to Hospice.
In my opinion, the way they do things is not ethical. But they think they are angels, so they won’t consider anything else.
The purpose of hospice care is to make the patient as comfortable as possible, period. They do nothing to treat disease or prolong life; their only mission is to make death as painless as possible. Addiction is obviously not a concern, and neither is overdose; If the dose of morphine or other drugs required to reduce pain is also a fatal dose, so be it.
There are a lot of different hospice providers, and their policies vary. Physicians usually do turn over the primary responsibility to the hospice, because they have a different set of priorities; the mandate to “first, do no harm” makes some uncomfortable with palliative care that may hasten death.
The quicker the better. I mean...the quicker the death, the less it will cost us. I mean....The patient is going to die anyway, so..... I mean....if the patient is comfortable, it is better, so if we make the patient REALLY comfy they seem to die faster.
All in the name of ‘dignity’. Comfort should be given, but I do believe there are definitely economic reasons that Hospice would ‘hasten’ or ‘facilitate’ the passing. IMHO