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Question about hospice

Posted: Apr 7, 2010

I posted a couple of months ago that my mother had endstage lung cancer. She is now at home with hospice care. I always thought that hospice provided constant care, but my mom only sees an RN twice a week for 30 minutes and a nurse aide 3 times a week for 30 minutes. My parents hired someone to sit with my mom when my dad can't be at home.

My mom really hasn't had any blood work drawn despite possible problems with anemia, iron deficiencies, and blood clots. She has no appetite. She has not had any physician visits since she left the hospital in late January. I have only heard really good things about hospice care in the past, but it feels like my mom is not receiving enough attention.

Is the fact its MY relative now receiving this type of care coloring my opinion or is hospice something set up so that the rest of the medical profession can abandon a dying patient? I am wondering if my expectations are too high... Thanks for any insight.

;

Hospice - MT4ever

[ In Reply To ..]
In my past experience (father with stomach cancer 12 years ago) hospice is not 24-hour care. They did with/for us just as they are doing for your mom. Hospice is only called on for patients who usually have less than 6 months to live (at least around here) and, sad to say, when there is nothing else that can be done except to keep the person comfortable and pain free. I'm sorry to hear about your mom and my heart goes out to you.

Hospice - Mare

[ In Reply To ..]
Depends where you live, I think; perhaps not. I did not have that good an experience with them but I also have a dysfunctional family who would not do one thing to help until the end when they wanted something material (of course). I found Hospice did not come that often either but my Mom wanted them because there was little money. My Dad hung on for 14 months, we were told not to call 911 if the end was in sight and they would sit with us through it. Well, 911 was called as I couldn't stand it, and they kicked us off Hospice and he ended up in a nursing home anyway. It's a sad situation. There's nothing like a "good family" who will take turns helping but unfortunately, I don't have one of those. My thoughts go out to you, God bless you and help you through this, it's tough on everyone. Some Hospice people are saints though, not to dissuade you, just my experience with it, it's horrible when you must work and you are torn in two with worry. Prayers to you and your Mom.

I think it depends on whether it's in-home or in-hospital - My mom was in hospice, too.

[ In Reply To ..]
My mom was in a hospice unit in a hospital here in town. It was only a couple of days, as she passed much faster than we thought she would, but still, they were great. The goal of hospice is comfort care. The way it was explained to us when Mom went in was that there would be no more active treatment and the goal was simply to make her comfortable until the end. She was going off dialysis, so we knew the end was going to be in a week to 10 days and it turned out to be two days.

I think you need to sit down with the intake coordinator or the hospice administrator and clarify again exactly what their role is. Call the doctor, as well and ask him the same questions. It's my understanding, though, that if the patient is at home, then hospice just comes periodically to check on them. If you need care that is closer to round the clock care, that's a whole other department, so to speak, and is not done through the hospice. That's more the home health agency and if your mom is on Medicare it probably wont' pay for it. I know it didn't for Mom and she had to use a private insurance policy to pay for some in-home care for about a month.

Good luck to you. This is a horrible situation to be going through.

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