What Hospice Won’t Do

“Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.”  David Searls (Biologist)

A popular magazine recently featured an article by a writer who described the last days of her mother’s life as she rapidly progressed toward the end stages of a terminal neurological disease.  Her mother wanted to end her own suffering and had sought her daughter’s advice with the final act.  This difficult request is not as unusual as one might think and many family members make illegal pacts with each other as they age or suffer from serious illnesses and disabilities. 

The statement that caught my attention and provoked my ire was the author’s response to her mother:  “There are ways…talk to hospice.”

As an experienced hospice nurse, I was appalled that a national publication would not conduct due-diligence fact-checking when running such an article.  It is true that there were rare instances when, as a hospice nurse, I was approached by either the dying individual or a loved one asking how the end of life could be hastened.  But it is imperative that the role of hospice be clearly understood in these circumstances:  hospice is a family-centered service designed to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of an individual during the end stages of their disease process. The focus of hospice care is comfort and the control of pain and symptoms when curative treatments such as chemotherapy are not continued.  Hospice services provide hands-on care as well as teaching and emotional support to caregivers. But hospice does not at any time or in any manner assist or hasten the death of the individual.  Hospice health care professionals do not administer deadly doses of medications or teach loved ones how to give mortal doses.

I am not an advocate of prematurely ending life, yet I know there are individuals who consider this action and I understand the pain, fear, and agony that leads to this life-ending decisions.  I cast no judgments.  But questions and concerns in these morally charged matters must be directed to the physician providing care for further counseling.  For the faithful, discussions with clergy are strongly recommended.  Many individuals and families also seek legal counsel.  There are no easy answers, but many terminally ill individuals and their families will find resolution and peace simply by understanding that hospice will control their pain and symptoms provide the entire family the much-needed support as end of life approaches.

To ensure the greatest benefit, hospice services should be initiated as quickly as possible with a life-limiting diagnosis is made initiation of hospice services as early as possible with a life-limiting disease process allows for the greatest benefit to all. To find the hospice or palliative care agencies in your area, contact the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization Helpline at 1-800-658-8898 (toll free) or http://web.nhpco.org.