What exactly is hospice care?

My grandmother and a friend's father both went though hospice care and both times we were with the understanding that it was the 'end' and the patients were being made comfortable and without pain.

My aunt has what we understood to be a cronic blood cancer. Not terminal, but cronic; having to take serious chemo for most of her remaining life. My aunt is 73 and willing to take the chemo. The new round would be extremely strong and make her very ill. Her two grown daughters though have convienced her to stop chemo and enter hospice care.

My cousin is certain they will continue her tests and blood work and take care of her. Somewhat like long term care but feel certain hospice is not for long term care but only to make her comfortable while she is alive.

I need advice on this matter. Any one have more knowledge then us? Our experience has been in Texas and my Aunt lives in Arkansas if that makes a difference. (Which my cousin says it does!)

What exactly is hospice care? It's a system of family-centered care designed to assist the terminally ill to be comfortable and to maintain a satisfactory life-style throughout the phases of dying. Hospice offers emotional support, family teaching and physical care. Hospice assists both patient and family through the grieving process before and after death. Hospice can be provided at home or in a residential facility. Normally, people who have been given a physician prognosis of 6 months or less to live, are referred to hospice.

There are people and organizations that are working to have those with chronic, debilitating illnesses that are not imminently terminal be allowed to have access to hospice services. A referral to hospice may help your aunt to access services. Her advanced age may also work in her favor. If she's in hospital now, her social worker can inquire into hospices. If she's at home, the family will have to make the calls. I don't know what the standard is in Arkansas, only my own state. It may be that some hospices there have already started accepting the chronically ill as they have in my state.

Call your local Hospice or Hospital for a referral. They help people with untreatable diseases.

most hospice situations are only for six months or less. If a doctor determines that she will live longer than that hospice will not come in. If a doctor determines that she has less than six months then hospice will come in and stay even it if takes a bit longer....basically the doctor's determination is what hospice looks at to accept or deny a patient their services.

i live in ny and have had training in hospice--basically it is care until the end which can be short term or longterm..you want to make the patient comfortable and alot has to do with being in their home surrondings with loved ones around. i am sorry you have to go through this but keep your head up it can be quite a learning experience..what you could do is call her insurance company to explain more in detail what is what with hospice care..every plan is different as far as what is covered and what it entails..good luck..

Hospice is just letting the inevitable happen.
They will care for a patient for years if that's how long it takes the disease to progress to it's natural end.

It's not "giving up," it's being able to enjoy the time you have left without pain & sickness from treatment. And your aunt can come off hospice at any time and resume treatment if she so chooses.

Being someone from AR and having a mother who works at a nursing home (dad does too, but in TX), I can tell you that hospice won't take someone unless they think that the person has only about 6 months left to live. It is strictly to help the client live out those last months with the least amount of pain and suffering.

hospice is only provided to terminal patients that have less than 6 months to live.
since u already said that your aunt is not terminal, that would be impossible.

but u said that her daughters convinced her to stop chemo.
without chemo, her cancer will progress and will become terminal. after that, she could have hospice care.!


just an afterthought......y do yr aunts daughters want to lead their mother to an early death when she could live for much longer with chemo...!!!!....?!?!?!?!?!