Misconceptions About Hospice Care

The concept of hospice care can be difficult to understand, particularly because some families never have a reason to take advantage of the service. As a result, experts such as the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization say there are a number of common misconceptions regarding hospice. In order to better judge the value of this end-of-life care, it's important to expose these misconceptions:

• Hospice care encourages death. According to a study in the "Journal of Pain and Symptom Management," terminally ill patients receiving hospice care lived an average of 29 days longer than patients with a terminal illness who did not choose hospice care.
• Hospice care ends at death. There are three different stages of hospice care, which traditionally begins when there are no medical options to cure the condition or illness and a patient is expected to live six months or less. Hospice care continues after the patient dies, with bereavement support and counseling, if necessary, offered to immediate family members.
• Hospice care is giving up on life. A common misconception is that patients who enter hospice care give up on the chances of recovering, no matter how remote they may be. However, the national hospice organization says patients are instructed to focus on what they can achieve with the time medical experts believe they have left in life. This reduces anxiety and may explain why patients in hospice care live longer than terminally ill patients who do not have the benefit of hospice care.
• Hospice ends all medical treatment. A patient continues to see a doctor and receive medication while in hospice care. One of the main goals of hospice care is to increase a patient's mental alertness and aggressively battle pain so that the end-of-life period can be as productive and comfortable as possible. However, the patient's doctor continues to regularly attend to the patient and it isn't unusual for a doctor to recommend that a patient be removed from hospice care because of a significant improvement in condition or the discovery of an additional course of treatment not previously used.
• Hospice care is limited to six months. Be sure that you check with your insurance provider, but in many cases, hospice care continues as long as the patient is determined to be terminally ill. The fact that a patient outlives a diagnosis of six months or less to live does not cut off access to hospice care.