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DjadeInk Asked January 2019

Hospice sedation too much. How do we get medications reduced?

I am asking for my neice who's father has been put in a hospice facility.


He wanted to die at home or at the least come back to Virginia to be near his mother, sister, and his daughter. He was released from the hospital to an inpatient hospice facility, they told him he would only be allowed to stay a few days . He was told by his girlfriend that she did not want him to come home to her house because she didn't want anyone to die in her house. So he called his daughter and mother to come get him. On Saturday they began increasing his medications to sedate him and he hasn't been able to move and now suddenly he is "too ill" to leave the facility when prior to these medications being given to him he was ready to go home and able to go home.


His daughter wants the medication reduced to see if he can't verbalize his wishes however there are older family members who want to "just let him go" and argue in favor of keeping him sedated until he's gone. He can't even swallow a pill anymore and when he went in there he was questioning why they were giving him seven pills to swallow. This was less than a week ago. The medications are clearly stopping him from communicating his own wishes yet his young daughter is not being listened to. What can she do to get his medication reduced so that his cognitive abilities return and he can tell people what he wants to do?

faranlee Jan 2019
I went through a similar situation recently and thought the hospice sedation was too much. He was coherent and talkative one day, then suddenly wasn't. It was very disturbing and coincided with the medication. The hospice cut back on the medication at my request but it did not change his mental state.

If his daughter has POA, she can make this request, otherwise I am not sure what she can do. I came to the conclusion that what I saw was the effects of his disease (cancer) and not of the pain killers.

cwillie Jan 2019
The hospice should be no problem with having medications reduced at the POA's request, but of course that may mean he is not as comfortable as he could be. At this point moving him may not be a realistic option though.

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worriedinCali Jan 2019
It may not be the medication. If he’s at the end of life, stopping medication will probably not bring back his cognitive abilities and it’s not the medication keeping him sedated. Hospice doesn’t just sedate you either. Did he assign anyone a healthcare POA?

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