What Exactly IS Hospice?
Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the day Dr. Kevorkian was convicted of 2nd degree murder. He videotaped himself injecting a lethal dose of chemicals into Thomas Youk. Youk, suffering with a terminal diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, gave Dr. Kevorkian his explicit permission, but it wasn’t enough. Dr. Kevorkian did all the work, and that was considered murder. Though it may seem odd to call him a pioneer, he was a fighter for patient autonomy and because of his work, physician-assisted suicide is now legal in 11 states.
While this is an interesting story, this is not how hospice works. Contrary to popular beliefs, hospice does not aid in the early departure of our beloveds. Quite the contrary, with all the extra care and support patients on hospice services receive, on average, they live 28 days longer.
According to the Hospice Foundation of America, hospice is “an interdisciplinary team of professionals trained to address the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs,” of a person with a terminal diagnosis with a life expectancy of 6 months or less. Hospice also extends social and spiritual support for close friends and family. This interdisciplinary team consists of a medical doctor, a case manager or RN, a social worker, chaplain, bereavement coordinator and volunteers. Death Doulas, often showing up in the volunteer support roles, can provide additional emotional and spiritual support to the patient.
Hospice is a Medicare Benefit that is 100% covered. You cannot, however, be on hospice if you are still pursuing curative measures. This free benefit focuses on symptom management and quality of life. While it is best to receive hospice benefits as early as possible, there is strict criteria for what qualifies one for hospice and each patient already on service must show decline every 6 months of the benefit period if they are going to continue with services. It is possible that people graduate from hospice, meaning, they start to perk up and show significant improvement as they respond to the medical team.
Why do we want to identify hospice patients early? Because the benefits are robust and greatly impact the experience of all involved during this time of great transition and trauma. Our culture is death avoidant, meaning we don’t educate ourselves on what it looks like or what to do. We’re also experiencing agism, the discrimination of the elderly. Our culture wants to pretend that death isn’t coming and that leaves us totally unprepared to deal with the inevitable. The hospice team with educate, advocate and guide you through this traumatic transition and can ease it into becoming memorable final moments. People need resources they don’t know exist and we can find them for you. People need to understand what a dying body goes through so you don’t negatively impact the dying with best, but uneducated, intentions. People need grief support to carry them through their first year without their loved ones.
There are so many benefits under the umbrella of hospice. The extra set of eyes, care and support are invaluable. Death is a community event, not a medical emergency, and hospice can help make that a reality.
