When is hospice euthanasia?

"Yes, I have contacted the above to no avail" You care to elaborate.

For all of you who say go to the police, file a case, seek an attorney etc..... or that I am trying to find someone to blame. I blame myself for trusting what hospice staff told us. As for the fentanyl being ok for short periods of time and being fast acting and someone has taken it etc... Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin. Fentanyl is measured in micrograms and not a milligram. 1 mcg = 0.001 mg which is why it is so potent. Fentanyl is what so many people are dying from today. Prince for instance died from a fentanyl overdose. Fentanyl plus morphine plus ativan is incredibly toxic especially to an older person. Had I known what it was, I would have taken the patch off myself but i was ignorant until after she was gone. My dad, sister and i stayed with her in the room around the clock and tried to get her out of her coma state. She was fine one day and the next she was in a coma state.
It isn't a conspiracy theory. Yes, I have contacted the above to no avail and not because I want any money but because I don't want this happening to others. Many feel just like you naysayers that if she was in hospice than she must have been dying and just accept it was her time. You weren't there and you don't know what we were told etc... I'm not debating what you think etc... just trying to make sure the word gets out. If you feel your loved one is safe, then that's your call. If you are really interested in knowing instead of attacking others who have lost someone to the hands of hospice then do your research. Check out stealth euthanasia. Interesting that there are a lot of people out here now starting to see their situation isn't unique.

I agree with Dorianne. If you truly believe Hospice murdered your mother then go to the police and report the crime. Or hire a malpractice attorney and sue for wrongful death. Or take out a full page ad in the locale where this occurred to inform the public or potential victims of what you believe can happen with Hospice. My dad was on hospice and was treated with dignity and compassion. He died pain free and at peace in 1991. My cousin died about six weeks ago in Hospice and the care and treatment she received was wonderful. I was with her almost 24 hours per day. She died peacefully.

I stand behind what I said in my last comment. If you are this convinced your LO was murdered by hospice, and you are this concerned about ensuring this doesn't happen to other people, why on earth don't you go to the police?

Why does everybody (at least on this forum) who's convinced that hospice murders just go around to online forums trying to convince random strangers this happened, instead of going to the police, where these alleged murders can be investigated and hospice can be put under better scrutiny?

I'm sorry to be blunt, but doing nothing more than posting randomly online greatly resembles the behaviour of conspiracy theorists. So that's how you appear to people like me. I'm sorry for your loss, but it's really hard to take your concerns seriously when you take zero real world action.  It defies all logic. 

Also, you know you can be charged with a misdemeanor for failing to report a crime, right?  And you do know the police can trace your IP through this website and find you in real life, right? 

CountryMouse, I appreciate your comments and clearly they are given from the heart. Your summation paragraph is correct - making a long story short. There are many other details that I didn't include in this forum. It is not my intent to have a debate about what happened to my Mom, because I know the details and have seen the medical records. My point is to support others who have also concluded their loved one was murdered by hospice and I know that to be true.
Some people have good results from hospice and have stated that and I'm happy for those. Our situation was not the same. I don't attack others who have good things to say and don't believe I should be attacked for what I know.
People just need to know all sides of the stories before they experience what we did.
If interested read http://www.hospicepatients.org/this-thing-called-hospice.html
for many others who know what occurred.
Thanks again CountryMouse for your compassion
P.S. My Dad lives with me and feels guilty that he let them take her to that place where she died, but otherwise he is doing well.

My Hospice won't hasten my Mom's death even though she begs for it. She can't walk, barely sees, has one kidney and its failing. She has bedsores and has zero quality of life. They gave her 6 months and she has been on it 2 years now.

My mother lived for twenty years from her first emergency presentation with classic congestive heart failure - left ventricular myopathy, the end result of rheumatic fever in childhood, which damaged her heart muscle. She did well! - thanks mainly to the diligence and conscientiousness of the two excellent general practitioners controlling her medical care. She died at home, in my care, at the age of 90, just over four months after a disabling stroke.

Iknowthetruth, I have a good deal of sympathy for you. For my mother's end of life care we had excellent visiting nurses, first rate. But doing the rounds of hospital departments and outpatient clinics and rehab and so on, I heard other nurses, and some doctors, and all the dietitians we encountered (I'm sure others are great), and a PT or two, talk utter twaddle about health conditions and their management.

There were also at least two occasions when vigilant practitioners screeched to a halt on medications - spironolactone put my mother's potassium levels through the roof, it could have gone unobserved and stopped her heart; and oxycodone caused hallucinations because my mother's poor kidney function meant her body could not break it down as normal and she was, in effect, overdosing.

The key word is vigilant. These two people did not leave it 'til the next appointment - they checked, and acted.

Quite often that does not happen. Routines are followed properly, but those routines do not allow for close *enough* monitoring. Or, there isn't the necessary continuity of care. Or, there isn't the effective communication and co-ordination required to support someone with complex co-morbidities.

Care is not as good as it could be - if everybody involved performed at their best all the time with the support of an optimised care framework.

Incidentally, that's what the now infamous Liverpool Care Pathway was intended to be: an optimised framework, designed to ensure that terminal patients received complete comfort care without onerous, painful, futile interventions. Its aim was extremely desirable. Its execution, and now its reputation, were dire.

If I may take the liberty of summarising your assessment of events:

Your mother was (1) admitted to hospice in the third quarter of 2017. She was then living at home with your father, a ?retired hospice chaplain known to the facility and entitled to "professional courtesy", so to speak. Your mother's hip pain had been managed with (2) hydrocodone and your mother took a stoical point of view. Medicare was covering hospice costs; there is a cap on the cover; your mother had either reached or exceeded this cap. Waiting until her doctor wasn't looking, your mother's hospice team at the direct or indirect behest of Medicare removed your parents from their home and transferred them to a facility on the pretext of offering your father a respite break.(3) At the facility, they carried out planned euthanasia in order to finalise their costs. Throughout this process the hospice team ignored or overruled your parents' wishes regarding admission to the facility, emergency admission to hospital and drug therapy.

(1) I'm sure you're aware that a life expectancy of less than six months is a criterion of admission to hospice? So to make that recommendation, your mother's doctor cannot have been treating her heart failure as a manageable long-term chronic disease: it must have been an acute presentation at quite a late stage. Do you happen to have a record of what her measured heart function was? If there's an echocardiogram result, you want to look at the Ejection Fraction.

(2) You don't happen to know how long your mother had been taking the hydrocodone for her hip pain, do you? There can be all kinds of reasons for amending pain relief px's; and one that springs to mind is that codeine family members can cease to be effective. Fentanyl is extremely effective; and easy to administer. Also, there are strategic health policies in place to reduce the overall amount of codeine prescribed (I know that's not relevant from an individual's point of view, but it is an explanation of the presumption against px-ing codeine). On the issue of your mother's personal limit of an 8/10 pain level's being acceptable... It's so very subjective, isn't it? So hard to define. So hard to plan ahead, long before you know what it's like to be positioned and transferred in a hospital bed when your hip has no cartilage. And then again, there's the pain a person reports when he's lying still and being asked about it; and the pain that makes him cry out when nurses are moving him.

(3) When the hospice staff arrived at your parents' home to check on your mother, what did they find? Your elderly father was her primary caregiver; well, I've done that caregiving job and I was in my early fifties. I can't imagine how much more difficult it would be for an elderly gentleman. Your mother was very ill. You and your sister were not on the scene. What do the notes say about the situation in that particular moment?

I want to ask this delicately, without offending you: what explanations have you been given about the latter processes of congestive heart failure - specifically, its knock-on effects on kidney function, respiration and brain function? The thing is, for example: morphine in these circumstances is not given for pain relief, it is given to improve the quality of respiration in patients whose lungs are overloaded with fluid; it does this by slowing the rate of breathing, in order to allow each breath to be deeper and take in more oxygen.

I was fortunate that my mother was able to tell me whether or not she wanted her oral morphine, and except on two occasions she didn't need it. It sounds as though the facility may have been less anxious about giving it than I was (fair enough: I was a frightened amateur, they knew what they were doing), and certainly as though they made a complete hash of explaining how it worked and relying on your mother's informed consent. But that does not mean that their intentions were either callous or malicious. What they did does not show that they did not intend to act in their patient's best interests.

I'm going to stop at this point because I don't want to antagonise you, I am not against you. Have you had any discussions with your mother's hospice team about your fears of what took place?

How is your father doing?

Goodness. The beat goes on.
Family members can step in to advocate for their loved ones at any time by speaking with the physicians.
Hospice admits folks with a terminal diagnosis. An order for hospice is a doctor’s order made in conjunction with the family after determining a poor soul is very ill, most likely at end of life & “about to go home” to their Maker & will not recover. This decision is not made easily or in a bubble.
It’s hard when one of our family members and our non family loved ones get very ill & will not recover.
Personally I would choose the hospice option (and did choose Hospice for my mother) to treat end of life & having a terminal illness & no quality of life remaining.  These folks need to be provided comfort and care. It pains me to hear of negative experiences described above as this was not my experience.
Yes medication is prescribed for alleviation of pain and decreasing suffering that may occur at the time leading up to death.
I am not going to judge anyone’s opinions in their own personal  situation as I don’t doubt they happened, & at a very vulnerable time as well for the family.
I don’t look at seeking hospice as playing God either. Reality is that people die and it’s a part of life. IMO Hospice was my choice for my mother & it turned out to be the right decision for us.
My mother wasn’t over medicated either. When she passed in the middle of the night she appeared comfortable.
Hospice did not kill my mother.
Every terminally ill person should continue to be able to review hospice as an option @ end of life.
For those caregivers who feel their loved ones were overmedicated,  I am sorry.
The hospice “cocktail “ doses are individualized & monitored for effectness frequently to maintain the person’s comfort. Often doses are titrated up to provide symptom relief. 
Yes the meds offered by hospice are to provide sedation. Sedation & pain relief is often desired due to the adverse effects of the terminal disease. 
Please don’t rule out Hospice for your terminally ill loved one. Keep your options open.
Of course, nothing is perfect, hospice included. Families have a say throughout hospice as well. It’s good to know Hospice is available for consideration. 

I really don't understand why no one ever goes to the police, if they really think their LO has been murdered this way.

No one. Ever. Goes. To the police.

Weird.

Well sorry I am still alive. I have been given Fentynal 100mcg many times for various procedures. it is extremely fast actin and a very effective pain reliever which wears off very fast as well.
Murdering people actually stops hospice receiving money. Dead patient = no more Medicare payments. The higher the patient load the more money a non profit hospice receives. The mother's pain was being managed properly if she was comfortable enough not to want to take the morphine. However to remain pain free it is important to keep dosing so the pain does not return.

Any drug has to be prescribed by the MD. Hospice workers can't just show up and start using anything.
If the mother was being cared for by an elderly husband it was probably seen to be too much and unsafe for him to manage alone.

Indeed people can live 10 years with CHF - I hope I get that lucky! I remember being in acute heart failure and lying on the floor coughing and gasping for breath with fluid running out of my mouth and nose. I was able to return to the hospital and was properly treated and recovered but it is something that gets worse and eventually is a killer. Fluid is the worse thing you can give to someone in heart failure they are already overloaded.

You are entitled to your opinion and in your grief it is very easy to find someone to blame for Mom's death which you clearly were not expecting. As you firmly feel Mom's death was due to the actions of Hospice personnel then proceed and take action either by sueing or reporting the hospice to the police, filing a law suite or reporting to your State's Health Board

Gershun don't worry about being attacked I think Prolife has gone back into his cave. That is unless the Admins have seen him off.

Okay, I must interject knowing I run the risk of being attacked. Hospice does not murder people. If you seriously believe this then have you contacted the authorities, had them do a full investigation?

This conversation only serves to make people who had no choice but to follow the Doctor's wishes and allow morphine to be administered feel guilty about their decision. I was told the same thing that you just stated, that my Mom would basically drown in her own fluids. That she would be like a hot water bottle. Thank-you so much for reminding me of this and making me feel bad all over again.

kathy1951 I know I am late arriving to this post tread but jumping in. I KNOW for a fact that hospice murdered my Mother. There is no guessing and while other people choose to attack loved ones of murdered patients by hospice because you don't see it yourself is horribly discompassionate. It happens more and more each day!
My Mom did not have cancer and was NOT dying. Her doctor suggested she go under hospice since she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure which people live up to 10 years being treated with medication. She had a bad hip with no cartilage and did have pain which was being managed with hydrocodone. My Dad had been the hospice chaplain at that facility for 15 years earlier so we thought she was safe when we enroller her into hospice in the fall of 2017. After her doctor left to go out of country for 3 weeks, hospice staff showed up at my parent’s home and stated they were taking them to the hospice facility for my dad, the caregiver to receive respite and they would "take care of her". Hospice showed up at the home and said an ambulance is on the way and told my parents they were taking them to the hospice facility – they did not ask. My Mom always said she wanted to die at home. My Mom always said a pain level of 8 out of 10 was acceptable to her and it was HER choice. They were to keep them 3 to 4 days while my sister and I, who live in different states could come and make other arrangements for care. They admitted them both and the next day they started giving my Mom morphine and ativan without their approval. Mom became sad and stated she was afraid of morphine and didn't want to take it. They told her they switched to morphine because her pain med was making her constipated. Later once we knew this and received medical records we found out ALL opiods cause constipation! The following day eventhough she stated she was NOT in pain they gave her 100 mcg Fentanyl plus Morphine and Ativan and changed her from respite care to end of life. Within 2 hours she started showing overdose symptoms of fentanyl. Long story – short My sister and I arrived and she was in a coma state. We had them stop morphine and Ativan believing this to be what had rendered that state but eventhough we were able to get a few drops of water in her by coaxing her and rubbing her throat she did not become coherent. Eleven days after being “taken” there she stopped breathing.
I received the medical records and the amount and timing of the drugs with the comments entered, it is totally clear that they murdered her. In December of 2017 after doing a lot of research I found out this is happening around the country and I am NOT delusional. Google Stealth Euthanasia and see where it IS happening and if we don’t wake up and accept this, it is going to happen to many more of our elderly and those that cannot fend for themselves. I can’t bring my sweet Momma back but I promise to let others know so they don’t suffer the same fate under medical predators! My Dad, sister and I will have to live with knowing they killed her while we stood by asking what was wrong and they lied to us every turn. We tried to move her to the hospital and were convinced that they would give her fluids and she would drown and that is a horrible way to die… there are so many instances of their manipulations that it makes me sick.
Fentanyl was developed for cancer patient’s pain. My Mother did not have cancer but fentanyl is being used for so much more than that today. I have no doubt to coin a phrase “big pharma” has it’s hands is these stories. Profit! And this was a non-profit hospice and when I did the math on how much medicare had already paid, my Mom was close if not over the hospice cap of lifetime limit of $28,404.99. Additionally she had spoken out about not being happy with the staff changing all the time so they no longer received positive reports and were running out of funds so they had to hasten her death and get their money. Again, I have the medical records and it is clear.
Bottom line to all you naysayers – I’m happy for you that your loved one wasn’t murdered this way, but don’t attack those who have seen it first hand and know what the truth is! Walk in my shoes before you try to tell me what it was like because YOU do not know.

Hospice killed my Mother and she told us they were giving her Morphine and she couldn't breath. My mother was in fairly good health till we signed her up for hospice care. They said they would read the bible, do her nails and just give her some extra attention. As soon as we signed her up they started the morphine which we didn't even know she was getting. Hospice is a killing machine even when you are not dying.

#MyLovedOneToo

Listen to Hospice MD. Ignore Prolife. Just an uneducated troll with an agenda.

Hospice was a godsend for us with daddy's passing.

If you would like to connect with others who have also experienced hospice (and other medical settings) murder, go to the Facebook page: Exposing the Invisible Culture of Death in American Health Care

1. People in hospice who request food and/or water are given it.

2. Many people who are dying cannot swallow (dysphagia). They are given ice chips or wet sponges for comfort purposes.

3. Most people who are dying lose their appetite, in addition to having dysphagia.

4. Most people's bodies cannot process food or water as their organs shut down in the dying process. 

5. Intravenous water (saline) and feeding tubes are artificial means of keeping someone alive. If a family wants their loved one to be kept alive through artificial means, then they need to remove them from hospice and put them in a hospital or care facility.

6. Keeping someone alive through painful, artificial methods is cruel, and goes directly against the religious screed that says "only god decides" when it's time for someone to die.  It also goes against the principles of hospice.

7. Prolife, STOP LYING TO PEOPLE. You are the gaslighter here.

Death is not an easy thing to witness most of the time.  I'm sorry people have been made uncomfortable by witnessing the natural process of death, and it's understandable to want to lash out at SOMEBODY in your grief.  But come on, people.  This is what death is like.  Anybody who's even watched an elderly cat die at home knows this.  We are incredibly lucky, in our western nations of wealth and luxury, to have health care providers easing the discomfort of death.  Be grateful your loved ones have access to sedation and painkillers and a reasonably comfortable place to be as they leave this world.  People are suffering everywhere, all the time.

(P.S. - saying "only god decides" is pretty convenient rhetoric to fall back on, when it suits one's purposes.  But I don't see any religiously principled people trying to shut down the entire health care system, which circumvents natural death on a daily basis.) 

I can verify that there is a tendency to assume people want to be kept sedated and to get it over with in some programs, and they may be more likely to want to move in this direction for a patient with dementia and agitated behavior. But they are ABSOLUTELY supposed to individualize and respect your actual wishes. I saw a case with a good church friend where they totally did everything right, she had some sweet times and lots of visits and music, though with my mom I had to be a little pushy at times.

Aye Aye, BarbBrooklyn, I completely Agreed!! I thank God for the Hospice team who just recently helped my FIL through his end of life struggles with Lung Cancer. They were Angels in my book, and there was no way possible that we would have been able to fulfill his wishes to die at home, with his loving family around him, instead of a Nursing home.

Hospice was able to keep him comfortable through his pain, delirium and agitation, that so often comes at the end of life, and they were always but a phone call away to answer any questions and guide us through the process.

My FIL truly loved his "Hospice girls", especially his bath aide, who always gave him a good massage at the end of every bath, and whose good sense of humour and kindness he looked forward to twice a week.

Please Dear God, should it be necessary, let there be Hospice when its my time to go, as losing a loved one is hard enough, families truly need all the help they can get. People who've been through this know how very difficult it Really is!!! This was my 2nd time needing Hospice with a dying Parent, so I know!!! Cancer Sucks!!!!!

You, my dear Prolife, are the troll. The rest of us are caring for, or have cared for, our dying parents, children, spouses and relatives. We've been grateful for the loving care that Hospice providers have given.

Are there bad actors in the Hospice industry? Are there bad doctors, lawyers, teachers, priests, rabbis, psychologists, nurses, social workers, IT professionals? Sure. Every industry has bad actors.

If you've ever had a loved one dying of cancer in the era before hospice, when morphine was not given because the patient might get addicted (been there, not doing it again, not to anyone I love), you know the value of hospice and the comfort that morphine and other painkillers bring to the table. I'm not giving up on this benefit.

Take your message elsewhere, please.

Yes, hospice care is Euthanasia. As far as I can tell it started sometime in the 70's.

In fact, the first hospice in America was started by a pro-Euthanasia activist named Florence Wald.

On the Hospice Patients Alliance website, you can find a timeline of the merging of the Euthanasia Society of America with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. The two are one in the same.

Hospice does Euthanasia by what's called "the third way". Such as by denying food and water. They sedate the patient. The patient has no access to food and water and therefore dehydrates to death. Sometimes the patient is outright overdosed with lethal drug cocktails. In other instances their breathing is shut down by drugs, such as morphine. It's stealth euthanasia.

There is a growing movement to expose these murders. Many of us are speaking out to inform the public. Speaking out saves lives. Please join our movement. Look for our groups on Facebook, such as "Murdered by Hospice".

Don't pay attention to the attacks you are receiving on this forum. Ignore the gas lighting. Many of these people are trolls from the hospice Industry doing damage control. Tell your story.

I am a hospice physician. I would like to say that you are not eligible for hospice services unless you have a prognosis of less then 6 months. We consider the patient and the patient's family as the unit of care. We provide the a nurse, nurse's aide, chaplain or spiritual counselor, social worker and a physician to each patient and their families. We provide 24 hours day, 7 day a week access to care through a phone number you can call and any of the previously mentioned providers can be called to come out and see the patient or the family. We also provide 13 months of bereavement care for the family. Hospice comes to wherever the patient is located nursing home, home, personal care home, or assisted living centers. We are an extra layer of care. A RN nurse is assigned to visit the patient at least once a week and then a LVN nurse usually comes a second time in the week (At least in our hospice). Then a home health aide is assigned to come out and bathe a patient at least twice a week. Most want at least 3 times a week. If the patient is having a hard time they can receive a RN or LVN visit daily especially in the last few days of life. Also there is a free to the family 5 days of respite care for putting stable at home patients in a nursing home for five days of rest so family members can rest. The there is continuous care for uncontrolled symptom management and in patient hospice care for symptoms that can not be managed by in home continuous care. The last two mentioned are for very specific symptom management and it is highly regulated by Medicare. It is not to be used for normal end of life care. You also get a social worker to help you with end of life care from anxiety in family and patient to planning a funeral or placement in a nursing home. They make an initial visit and then as needed visits. The spiritual care worker helps patients and families deal with spiritual issues around the end of life. They meet you where you are and can sit and pray with the patient and his family or coordinate spiritual care with your chosen faith. They visit initially and then as needed and you can refuse their visit. All medications related to the primary hospice diagnosis are covered by the hospice as well as medications related to pain, constipation, nausea & vomiting, anxiety & agitation. Most people who are in the last 6 months do experience pain and so yes we are aggressive at managing pain because it is not fair to die in pain even if you can not verbalize that you are in pain. The elderly often express pain in worsening delirium which means they see, hear and react to things other people can not see, hear and react to. As you age all your organs age including your stomach and your ability to metabolize medications in your stomach decreases. So giving your loved one more medications actually makes the patients stomach work harder at digesting them. So this means that a lot of the drugs and vitamins actually are not getting metabolized and are diminishing the amount of any of the drugs that are getting into the patients blood supply. It has been shown with study after study that the elderly medically fragile (anybody in a nursing home and almost anyone who is older then 65 depending on the person) need to be on less then 9 medications and that means over the counter medications and vitamins too. And most people in the last 6 months of life have lost enough weight that they no longer have hypertension and diabetes type II and therefore either need less of those medications and/or no longer need those medications. Most people who initially come on hospice have a "honeymoon period" when we stop excessive medications and the patient actually wakes up and is more cognizant and aware of there surroundings. We do not start pain medications unless there is some symptoms or source of pain. Most people in the last few weeks of life have pain as their body start to shut down and their muscles contract. We do not want you loved one to die. We just want to make sure your loved one is actually cared for appropriately. If you do not want to believe that I will talk about the economics of hospice. We actually do not want to kill your loved one because that would mean we can no longer be reimbursed for their care. (Medicare pays a set amount for every day you are on hospice. It covers the pay of all the caregivers, the director of nursing, the administrator, the pharmacy costs, the secretaries, the answering service, the physician etc. ) We have patients with varying length of stays some come on and die with in a day others come on and die 3 years later. Our hospice (Silverado Hospice) has a physician visit the patient with in 7 days of admission, to make sure the patient is appropriate and indeed has a life expectancy of less then 6 months if the disease was to run it's normal course. (This visit is not required by healthcare law) After the first 6 months patients are seen by a physician ever 2 months to re-certify that the patient's has a life expectancy of less then 6 months is the disease was to run it's normal course. (these visits are required by law) If the patient's illness has stabilized then the patient is discharged from hospice for extended prognosis. (life expectancy greater then 6 months) Our hospice location in and it has a census of about 150-160 patients with about 50 admissions per month and 50 deaths per month. We usually have 3-4 patients that we discharge per month for extended prognosis. We are happy to readmit them when their illness progresses again and that happens quite a bit, usually 3-12 months later. Medicare has strict guidelines that must be followed so the patient has to show decline each re-certification period (within each 60 day period). So that is what hospice actually does. We do not hasten death in anyway.

Didgens, I agree with you. My Mom (final stage dementia)was on home Hospice for about 3 weeks prior to her death. They were wonderful and so supportive! They did not change any of her medications, just nurse visits, assistance with showering & dressing and supplying everything she needed for home care along with massage therapy. Mom was not started on morphine until 12 hrs before she passed when she was getting restless and complaining of pain (I'm sure from organ failure). I gave her 3 doses of morphine for the pain; one small dose every hour for 3 hours. She fell asleep, snoring a bit and looked so comfortable. Although she never awoke thereafter, I know she died peacefully in her sleep with her family by her side. Hospice did not kill her and the morphine did not kill her and for sure she was not euthanized. Mom was on hospice cuz she was already in the active dying process. This is what some posters don't get. I thank Hospice for making her last day a comfortable, peaceful and a pain free experience. She deserved nothing less.

Veronica is spot on. Hospice is a scary term. To many it means "end of life" but I was assured when my husband choose to go on hospice on his own (and was done fighting the cancer) that he could come off of and go on to hospice at any time he chose. They are angels to me. they stayed with me 24/7 for over a week when my husbands drug induced agitation had him wandering all over the house, falling out of bed, urinating on my son and myself ,, I was totally at my wits end. And in the end he did get put on a dilauded drip for his final journey. But all of this was his choosing. I cant say enough about the wonderful caregivers from hospice that gently helped my husband on his journey ,, and really saved my life.

Really do you think Hospice does this? My mom is 96 and has Dementia for a number of years now - the only problem I have is her wanting to use her legs less and less - I really need her to keep being able to stand for me so I can use my hands when dressing or undressing her and for her to hold onto the walker handles (she tends to pull backward while I'm trying to manage the walker straight away) and walk slowly from her bedroom to the bathroom. Mom has been upstairs in her bedroom now for just about a whole year - the stairs became impossible for her and for me to guide her up and down them. She is comfortable to JUST sit in her chair through the day with the radio playing - then again sitting In a chair has pretty much been what she has ever done. During my working years she would just sit in her living room recliner with blinds and curtains closed making it very dark inside the house. Now that she is upstairs I make sure to keep everything open so she has lots of light. Anyhow, got off the track here - Hospice not sure my mom is ready for that YET, her primary Dr. doesn't think so as she eats fine and retains her weight etc but if and when that time comes.....you talk about Hospice people keeping their cares on meds - my mom isn't on any drugs. Would they then keep her off them while in their care. Mom , years back was on a mild blood pressure med and for many years on 3 different eye drops but the eye drops became a hassle about 3 years back and at this stage of the game we just stopped using them These were the only drugs mom was on.

Veronica91,

I wish you the best in your treatment and continued years in good health. I can tell by your words that you are a kind and good person. Thank you for all the great info you provide for the rest of us on this journey.

Many ((hugs)) to you!

Yes I admit to working for Hospice as a RN for ten years but I really resent being referred to as a TROLL or MURDERER.
Bad things happen in the best of organizations.
In the midst of dying and grief which are huge life changing experiences it is not uncommon for those left behind to try and find someone to blame.
People need to remember that the patient and or their caregiver always have the final say regarding any and all treatment.
Ask questions, express your concerns and if you can't live with your decisions change your mind and let the professionals do their job which is to provide pain relief and comfort at the end of life.
Whenever this subject is revived I say to myself I will never reply again but it always gets me riled up so I do.
I am still receiving treatment for many possibly life threatening illnesses but when the time comes and my body wants to be at peace for whatever time I have left the first call I will make is to my friends at hospice in the sure knowledge they will provide me with tender loving care

Prolife,

Hospice is keeping my mom out of horrendous pain due to spinal compression fractures. Her bones are crumbling. She is lucid and engaging with friends and family. She eats what she can when SHE wants to and drinks liquids. No one is witholding food or water. No one is trying to accelerate her death. Her morphine dose is tiny but it does the trick to keep her pretty much pain free.

My father died of a glioblastoma (aggressive brain tumor) six years ago and I don't know how he and my family would've managed without hospice care.

The fact that you are calling people 'hospice trolls' paints you in a not so great light. We're just regular people that appreciate the care hospice gave our loved ones and also us.

I'm also not employed in any way in the medical profession. I'm just a loving daughter that cared for my father and continues to care for my mother with the help of hospice.

Patients pass away on the same time table whether using Hospice or not.

It all depends on if you want your love ones to pass while in terrible pain, or to pass peacefully.... again it is the same time table.

By the way, Prolife, when one is seriously ill, the patient can still be walking, talking, eating, etc. because there is that spurt of energy just before death happens. Then when the organs are shutting down it becomes very painful. Every patient would want something to take away that pain.

No, I do not work for the Hospice Care groups. 

Kathy,
You know what was done to you're mom. You saw it with your own eyes and your natural instincts warned you. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for talking about it. You are not wrong. Your experiences are real. What happened to your mom is real. Don't ever let anyone make you feel like it is insignificant.

Hospice is murdering people. I have seen it too. There are people here commenting that they don't sedate 24/7.... That is a lie! I have seen it. They did this to a relative. She was walking, talking, eating, drinking,going to the bathroom. Hospice came in and sedated her with morphine the first day. They kept her like that for seven days. She died on the seventh day of dehydration not a disease. If you go without good and water for seven days, you died of dehydration! Period !

There's a lot of trolls from the hospice industry commenting here. They are doing damage control for hospice. Trying to keep the cat in the bag. Trying to keep people's perception of hospice a good one full of compassion and angelic nurses... This couldn't be any further from the truth. They are angels of death.

There are comments here stating hospice doesn't use drug cocktails, such as morphine+Ativan... Also a lie. Why don't you hospice angels talk about how deadly Ativan (alone) is to the elderly? Or anyone with dementia? You can google it. It's a medical fact.

Why don't you talk about how deadly morphine is to someone with respiratory troubles? Morphine does not help the breathing. It shuts it down. And hospice knows this. All medical professionals do. Google "morphine respiration".

Why don't you talk about your death squads? Or the closers? Yeah I have inside information. I know the sick things you do.

Keep talking Kathy.