Now, here's the interesting part...HOSPICE IS A BUSINESS, like any other. They NEED CUSTOMERS. My mother was in the hospice system for three years.
That being said, I still think it saves Medicare money. My Mom was going to the hospital every other week it seemed and she was miserable. When she said, NO MORE HOSPITALS, her doctor was the one who suggested hospice. Like many other people, I though hospice was totally end of life. I had two experiences with hospice. One with my brother who died of cancer at a wonderful facility in Claremont, CA. His stay was about two weeks. and my Dad, who died at his home with hospice care. He had the service for less than a week.
My mom was one of these people they're talking about in the article. When recommended, the doc was sure she was end of life. But when she had this wonderful hospice service at my home, as she lived with me the last seven years of her life, she just kept getting better and happier.
I still believe it's cost effective. I believe one week of intense hospital care is more expensive than a whole year of hospice and not nearly as helpful. So it's up to the government (yea, sure), to tighten up the rules or realize that people want to be comfortable towards the end of their lives, they don't want to be in a cold hospital and linger indefinitely, if possible, they'd rather be at home for a shorter time with people who love them.
By the way, IMO, hospice care is the best thing the medical community has come up with in a very long time. It needs to be refined and explained to people.
By the way, IMO, hospice care is the best thing the medical community has come up with in a very long time. It needs to be refined and explained to people.
For me it is all about quality and not quantity. Some people are so afraid to pass on that they go to heroic measures costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to extend their life for a couple of months, instead of accepting what God has deemed and being with family and friends in quality time. I never want to be a burden on my family or society when it becomes obvious that the cost/comfort ratio becomes too one sided I will go in peace, with my family and friends with me.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. There are many reasons for hospice care, and sometimes the patients who are at the ‘end’ of ‘medical’ knowledge and hospital-care do recover (if I can use that word) by having good care in their home.
It is possible that is what was happening to people cared for by this facility in Alabama.
My sister said ‘no more hospitals’ in March of her final year and lived until that October. She was surrounded with loving care by family under the supervision of a hospice facility.
For once we agree.