I have posted on here many times and answered questions every now and then. Dad passed away Oct 7th 2013 from Liver Cancer . He was in a hospice facility for 11 days until he died. The day before he was admitted he was in the hospital and was talking,eating and very clear headed but his ammonia levels were high and he had been very combative, not eating and wouldn't take his meds for 4 days at his nursing home. ( He was in for a Psych Evaluation.) The hospice worker talked to me about admitting him instead of returning to the nursing home. I agreed to this and arrangements were made. He was transferred later that day and was alert and in good spirits. The next morning he was unresponsive and stayed that way until he passed. They gave him morphine and ativan around the clock. He never got any water but they did cleanse his mouth and moisten it with swabs. It seemed like he could hear me the first few days because I would shake his shoulder and say "dad". His eyes seemed to be moving under his eyelids and his mouth would move slightly. I did ask about them lowering his dosages so he could wake up a little. The nurse said he was getting a very small dosage already. I just wonder if the drugs made him unresponsive and if less was used he could have ate and drank and lived longer. I know it was time for him to go but I'm kinda puzzled about his going from complete alertness and straight into unresponsiveness so quick. The nurses did a Great job. I myself don't know how they do it. They treated dad like he was their baby. So gentle and compassionate. I was just wondering if anyone else had the feeling that death felt a little rushed once their loved one was placed in Hospice.
What is your alternative? Hospice should be against the law? No morphine , no way no how? How should the terminally ill die? Should we ignore a person's end of life directives because we don't agree?
Im not interested in any more horror stories about hospice murdering people. You've all made your point. I Sympathise with all who have lost loved ones. I am no stranger to death in my own family. But it's time to put up or shut up. If not hospice, what then?
LadeeC
I would think if hospice was on the murdering rampage suggested by many on this thread there would be lots of press, congressional investigations, high profile lawsuits and right wing politicians making hay and passing bills left and right to shut down hospice just as they are with planned parenthood.
All these guilty consciences need counseling.
This thread has dragged on and on and on and has become very rhetorical. Complaints and innuendos have become the dominant theme.
If these folks are suffering, as Maggie puts it, "guilty consciences", then they either need to seek therapy, find some way of addressing their guilt, and learn to move on. Complaining ad infinitum (or rather ad nauseum) or attempting to shift blame isn't solving their problems.
While I understand that hospice can be for respite on some occasions, it is primarily for end of life care.
If they feel there was negligence, then get the hospice records, have them reviewed by a malpractice attorney, or contact law enforcement. Or, just "ferme les bouches" (shut your mouths). Don't just keep on bitching. It doesn't solve anything, any more than spinning the wheels of a car stuck on ice. You don't go forward or backward; you just keep spinning.
Not a one, I hope.
That would be informal as I am not a geriatric or hospice expert by any means, but I am fluent in medicalese and its translation to English.
I totally understand all the questioning, worrying and living in that grief, but ultimately, I think in most cases, there is simply nothing that could have been done that would have kept our LO with us...sometimes it is just harder to accept for some people....
I can't imagine that our Hospice provider would ever do anything to lessen the amount of time I have with Mama...their goal has always been and continues to be her comfort and care...and helping me feel less alone through it all.
I believe 100% that hospice rushes death. My mother had a kidney that was nicked during a biopsy. She was bleeding internally. The bleeding had stopped at the hospital, and she had been given 10 pints of blood. However, the internal bleeding pooled in-between her cavities and organs. We did a cat scan 7 days into the hospital and it had started to shrink. However, she got a case of ild pneumonia , and had been struggling with congestive heart failure, and myleolukemia for about a year. She had just come to visit me out of state the month before the biopsy, and was getting around just fine. So the blood cancer was not affecting her that badly yet. She had 3 heart attacks over the years, but was one tough cookie. As I said, she had just visited me a month prior to the biopsy. At the hospital, she was in so much pain, that the doctor had a meeting with all the family. We just wanted her out of the pain from the biopsy, and more comfortable while she could get a chance for her body to fight the kidney healing on its own. The pneumonia was mild as I said. We had no idea that when she was taken to hospice to get more "comfortable" that she would not be speaking anymore as of that night. She had been waking up off and on just fine in the hospital, but in pain. The night before transfer to hospice, my son had stayed in her room with her joking all night when she'd wake up. She was in high spirits, but when the pain kicked in, it was horrible. We opted for the hospice, thinking it would focus on her pain, and with the pain relived a bit, along with the stress that comes with that, her body might start to heal. No. First night, she was out on the meds. When I told the nurse around 4 A.M the next morning that I was in shock that the meds were so heavy she could not talk anymore, she said they were making her "comfortable". I went outside to grieve. The nurse came out and said (coincidence) she's awake come talk to her. When I did, my mother knew, and said this was it, and that it was so hard. We got about one hour, that I will forever be grateful for to talk, then they came in and gave her the meds. She was out. She died the next morning. She never woke up again. My daughter jumped a plane, that is only a one hour flight, and I could tell she wouldn't even be able to talk to her grandmother again. My mother couldn't talk, but they said she could hear, so I put the phone to my moms ear as my daughter was boarding her plane. She died 20 seconds later. This all happened over a day and a half. I'm heartbroken. Hospice nursing staff were exceptional to her, but yes, they take them down, and fast.