[Sacajaweau]

When my mother was dying at age 90, they performed every test on her poor little body in order to find out what was wrong with her.....despite the fact that they knew absolutely that she was dying.

My sister held the power and she did nothing to stop the tests. It was awful.

[Gaffer]

I’ve always maintained that if you give a doctor enough time and free reign, he will kill you. Especially an oncologist. Some of the stuff they dispense is nothing more than medicinal rat poison.

[Abby4116]

When my mother was dying at age 90, they performed every test

That is exactly what hospice prevents. It ends treatment, other than pain management. It provides the help that many families need in caring for a dying relative. No more ER trips (unless for a broken bone or other acute injury), no more tests, MRI's, scans. It allows the patient to die with dignity in relative comfort, whether at home or in an institutional setting.

Hospitals and doctors were put in a position that in order to be paid by medicare and the insurance companies they had to have a diagnosis (DRG based payment) and they had to keep coming up with a NEW diagnosis. They had to run every diagnostic test to, hopefully for them, come up with something new.

When the docs know that someone is dying, hospice is the most compassionate thing they can recommend. The family and patient can decline and continue the cycle, but the end result is going to be the same.

My mother refused to sign for hospice until three days before death. The hospital was saying they couldn't keep her, the doctor had no further options available (he could not send her home, even with medicare provided equipment and support personnel) but she kept hoping for a miracle. How much more pleasant her last several months would have been had she opted for hospice when it was offered.

I hate to see it being taken over by unscrupulous companies.