Toneisha Colson Essays (1694 words) - Health, Medicine, Hospice

Toneisha Colson Dorothea Lipari Hospice and Palliative Care April 10,2017 How do I feel about the concept of Hospice and Palliative Care? Dying is a scary thing, and most of the time we are unprepared for it to happen. It is scientifically proven that 100% of us will die one day; but with the advances in modern medicine people are starting to believe they can cheat death. A woman in her eighties had kidney failure and end stage respiratory. She had been there for two weeks and mentioned to her kids she did not want to end up like her husband living on machines. But her children couldn't let her go and got her a permanent tracheotomy, feeding tube, and dialysis catheter. Now she just drifts in and out of consciousness, not saying anything or moving. Yet, is lying in a bed being kept alive by machines drifting in and out of consciousness really living? Many end of life patients these days are seeking a new alternative to that nightmare: Hospice care. Hospice care has been around since the 1970's but has been underutilized until recently. The main goal of Hospice care is to: "provide a peaceful, symptom-free, and dignified transition to death for patients whose diseases are advanced beyond a cure. The hope for a cure shifts to hope for a life free of suffering. The focus becomes quality of life rather than its length"( Nabili ). Hospice care is superior to hospital care for end of life patients because it leaves both the patient and their families in a better situation during the final stages of death. With the economy in such bad shape as it is, medical expenses can sometimes be far too much for regular patients receiving standard procedures even with insurance. So consider the cost of normal end of life patients' who could be in the hospital anywhere from two weeks to six months. According to a story done by CBS news, it costs nearly $10,000 a day to maintain someone is the intensive care unit. In other words, an end of life patient in an ICU for six months would end up with a hospital bill of $1,800,000, and that is not including the cost of any procedu res performed to prolong their life. In this hospital stay, most end of life patients will be hooked up to feeding tubes, heart machines, and have a tracheotomy because they can no longer independently preform these actions of their own. So at this point in the hospital stay; the patient can no longer talk or eat, and spend most of their time unconscious because the time stamp on their life has long expired, all while amounting a million dollar hospital bill. Many may see the hospital as their only option, but there is still always Hospice care. Hospice care is paid for through the Medicare Hospice Benefit, which fully covers most patients in its service. The hospice also pays for all medical services, medications, durable medical equipment, supplies and treatments related to managing patients' serious illness and approved as part of their individual plan of care. The hospice plan of care focuses on comfort, rather than curative, measures. Of course many people do not have insur ance or are ineligible to receive care through Medicare or Medicaid, but the Hospice has a program for that called Fee Reduction Program: Supported by community donations, the Fee Reduction Program works to ensure that everyone in the community has access to quality care and comfort when coping with serious illness and loss. The Fee Reduction Program determines a maximum out of pocket expense you may incur for hospice care and services based on your annual income. When your maximum out of pocket expense is met, your care will continue and is covered by community support. Thanks to the great program, everyone is entitled to have their final days spent at home with their family's pain free and with their loved ones around them. Another area Hospice care dominates Hospitals in is: Quality of life and family satisfaction in end of life patients. In an evaluation done by Dr. Elizabeth Ciemins on Advanced Illness Management Programs in Hospice care, Dr. Ciemins foun d that: Nearly one