I was my mother's POA for almost 12 years. At one point I put Mom on Hospice just prior to when when I was going to bring her back home again because that's what she told me she wanted. The day she came home she refused to let me take care of her in any way whatsoever; so, I had to take her back to the skilled care facility where she'd been staying. It was a horrible experience.
Less than a month from the time I'd put her on Hospice, Mom started vomiting blood & was in great pain. I knew what was wrong because Mom had stopped taking some of her medicine & not taking the med that helped keep her gastric reflux under control had resulted in this happening. (I'd had to deal with it on one other occasion when she wasn't on Hospice.
Mom wanted to go to the ER but the staff on duty told me the ER wouldn't treat her when she was a Hospice patient. I couldn't see allowing Mom to die when there was a simple solution & Mom was still deriving a certain amount of joy out of her life. That's when the Skilled Care staff told me I just couldn't write up a document saying I was revoking Hospice, I had to sign a document that Mom's Hospice would need to provide & they would need to sign it as well.
So, I contacted Hospice & told them what I wanted to do. I was told it would about an hour or so for the Hospice nurse (HN) on duty to drive from where she was to where we were, which didn't make me very happy.
When the HN finally got there, she went into the nurse's station to review Mom's medical records. Then she came into Mom's room, took her vitals, did a brief physical examination, asked about Mom's symptoms, etc. Then she told me she could give her a shot of morphine for the pain, get some X-rays taken & if necessary give Mom an enema (the staff had indicated they thought Mom might be constipated) First off, I was upset because Mom was deathly allergic to morphine & when I stated that the HN said she'd give her Demerol instead, (which Mom could take).
Then, I was informed Hospice didn't have a contract the hospital to provide X-ray services; so, Mom couldn't just be taken downstairs to the X-ray dept & it might take up to 1.5 hrs or more for their X-ray provider to arrive.
This was the final straw & I insisted I be provide with the papers I needed to sign in order to revoke the Hospice Agreement so I could get Mom down to the ER ASAP.
That's when the HN told me she would have to go down to her car to get them. She hadn't even brought them upstairs with her!
The hospital Mom was at was a small local one & it should have taken the HN no longer than 10 minutes if that to get the paperwork & get back upstairs.
Nearly 45 minutes later my cell phone ran. It was the the Hospice Administrator & she tried hard to get me to change my mind. That's when I realized why it had taken the HN (who was just then arriving back on the floor) so long to come back up with the documents I needed to sign & that really angered me.
After the HN & I signed the documents, I learned it was going to take another 30+ minutes for SC staff to complete their paperwork. The ER wanted Mom to go to a bigger hospital to see a specialist; but, she refused.
I then had persuade a local doctor to agree to be her physician. Fortunately, her former doctor agreed.
Mom was admitted to hospital, given a much needed transfusion (her hemoglobin level was below 7), medication to combat her gastric reflux, etc. In 3 days, Mom was back in her old room on the SCN floor.
I'd simply put Mom on Hospice too soon & without realizing the full ramifications of what doing so meant. Plus the Hospice representative had told me things weren't true.
Mom lived 1yr 3+ months longer. She got to see my elder son in person, his wife & 3 children, my younger son & his boy via Skype, which made her very, very happy.
Then Mom quit taking her meds & quit eating. I put her back on Hospice & this time the experience was very good - different people / same company. Go figure
Glad it worked out for Mom.