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.
If you keep an IV in for any length of time the site needs to be changed every few days causing more distress.
Also agree with CM it is the job of the Dr to explain the option to the relatives so they can make an informed decision.
Now there are occasions when it could be essential to prolong someone's life to achieve a certain goal. Most often it is for family reasons like the birth of a baby or to see a serviceman/woman return from battle. This is usually the patient's choice and deserves medical support.
Dehydration in itself is not painful but feeling thirsty with a dry mouth is very unpleasant. (personal experience here) my teeth felt as though they were wearing sweaters!! Good mouth care is essential and allowing the patient to suck on a swab if they can't drink is good or dripping a few drops of water in the mouth by holding a finger over the top of a straw also helps plus minute ice chips. Of course most people don't have fancy crushed ice makers but just put a few ice cubes in a clean tea towel and hit it against a hard surface and voila you have crushed ice.
Todays RNs are encouraged to take a four year degree but once they are responsible for direct patient care have no practical experience. One RN came to change an IV for me supervised by another isa year RN. It all went fine and I encouraged her but afterwards I asked her if they were taught in nursing school and were able to do this on real patients supervised by a tutor. She said they were taught in schools but had no real life experience. That is a big gripe i have about todays new RNs, their hands on training comes from their peers so bad habits and incorrect information are passed along with no check until something tragic happens. I witnessed this time and time again last Fall in my 3 months hospitalization and either I or my husband had to intervene
Care designed to give supportive care to people in the final phase of a terminal illness and focus on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. The goal is to enable patients to be comfortable and free of pain, so that they live each day as fully as possible.
Now if you don't want your loved one to be comfortable and free of pain then fine go ahead and whinge about hospices. You have no idea of the pain your loved one might be in nor of the rationale behind the doctors prescription.
Finally put a business head on....just for once.... two businesses both hospices both caring for terminally ill. One has a business where people are brought in live about 4-6 months then die free of pain. One has a business where people are brought in and live about a week then die free of pain (or not). Now which one is likely to be making the money? For sure it aint the one where they die after a week. the deep clean, the form filling plus everything else they have to do would be so time consuming that they would go out of business let alone the loss of reputation (or the gaining of a bad one)
In the final stages of life the roller coaster becomes deeper and more irregular than ever. The change from fine to critical can happen in minutes and there is no way you could expect 24/7 care and even if it was there sometimes there is little they can do except relieve pain. THERE IS NO CURE TO TERMINAL ILLNESS - the big clue is in the word TERMINAL.
So can we let this rest please? If you have a gripe you should have reported it to the police and it would have been investigated. If it was investigated and nothing was found - accept it the police are not in cahoots neither are the investigators
I do feel hospice hastened my mother's death .
The hospice could sue you for libel
She had strong vitals and she was very alert.
But that does not mean she was going to get well
They kept a ventilator on her for a prolonged 2-3 wks while the nose cannula was working just fine.
White blood cell count was lowering, so she was recovering from a colostomy at 89,
One does not follow the other low white cell counts indicate viruses/cancers/bone marrow disorders or a mixture of these
but the POA other daughter continued to rush her death along with a co-chair of my church council who knew the hospital staff in ICU as my mother was killed in a few days after recovering well in ICU without any arrangements made for hospice as she was deprived of everything including pain meds and tortured in pain to death IMO
You are honestly trying to tell us that a church council member and your sister conspired with hospital staff and the hospice to kill your mother?
You know what I actually hope they read your post and do sue you. Your attitude and the continuing negative comments about hospices must be striking fear into the hearts of people whose loved ones are terminally ill when this site is designed to support them.
I am by no means saying all hospices are fantastic they aren't but neither are they torture chambers. My advice would be look around find one that you feel comfortable with and monitor it and DEAL WITH ANY ISSUES immediately in writing. Don't sit and grieve after the event when you didn't work hard enough to deal with it during the event.
Hospices don't operate in a vacuum. They work with the family members. I agree with what phoenix said about dealing with issues you don't like and changing them, stead of looking for someone to blame after the fact.
Are you sure your Mother wasn't terminal? In other postings elsewhere on the forums you mentioned that your Mother's colon had burst, well that is a very dangerous situation, especially for someone who is quite elderly. She didn't have surgery to repair the damaged colon, correct?
If I remember correctly, your Mother's Power of Attorney wasn't allowing you to visit your Mother. Were you able to visit her while in ICU?
I have read your posts with concern for many months now, and I am tired. I am very sorry for your loss.
You continue to have your 'IMO' and you can have that - just as you did with the forged POA (although the courts disagreed) just as you did with the nursing home (although that appears to have not been vindicated) , of course you can but how does that help anyone who loved ones are terminally ill and who have been recommended to use the hospice? I find it insulting in the extreme that the story changes so regularly and yet newcomers will not recognise the small nuance of changes that do occur in your rhetoric. Are you now saying that the HOSPITAL killed your mother or that they made her terminally ill so she had to go on hospice?
I actually can only find one person who is wrong here and because I have not insulted you I wouldn't dream of saying that that person is you. Others may disagree. Out of her because you have never listened in the past and I don't think you will now unless we tell you something you want to hear.