Items about 'Hospices'
Useful Web Sites
Advance Care Planning: Topics and Organizations Links
Aging with Dignity
Five Wishes approach to Advance Directives
Americans for Better Care of the Dying
Advocacy group to improve care at the end of life.
Caring Connections
A program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), Caring Connections is a national consumer engagement initiative …READ MORE…
Understanding Hospice – An Underutilized Option for Life’s Final Chapter
By Gail Gazelle, MD
New England Journal of Medicine, July 26, 2007
It was Mr. G.’s third exacerbation of congestive heart failure in the past 6 months. Eighty-three years old, he had New York Heart Association class IV heart failure, end-stage coronary artery disease, and insulin-dependent diabetes. Although he had never wanted to be put on a ventilator, this time his shortness of breath was so terrifying that he felt he had no choice. After having a good response to diuresis, he was successfully extubated and transferred out of the coronary care unit.
Two days later, a hospitalist suggested to Mr. G. and his wife that given his advanced disease, he should consider going home and receiving hospice care there. Sensing the couple’s fear, she reassured them that death was not imminent and that members of the hospice staff would work to ensure the best possible quality of life. Relieved, Mr. G. acknowledged that he would prefer to avoid rehospitalization. …READ MORE…