They give them nothing but morphine? Is that not euthanasia? Was in-home hospice pt because hospice & palliative care have you in a financial catch22. No matter what you choose, it is not the best care. Item: Pt got herself down hall to bathroom, muscles weakened & she ran out of energy, sunk to floor in bathroom. Could not get her into her wheelchair but in moving her toward chair, I discovered her O2 tube was no longer connected to her cannula. Immediately we reconnected but still needed help to get her up off floor. We called 911. EMTs said her vitals were perfect & she was "strong woman" but they insisted she go to hospital. Somehow ER staff got 1 of the healthcare proxies to sign DNR for pt and now she's in hospice receiving no food or water. Of course she will die from dehydration, if nothing else. This is criminal to me. How can this be legally acceptable for someone who does not want this & she's so doped up, she can't complain except in someone's ear: "Get me out of here."? She may be in end-stage COPD but she is only dying with medical help she does not want. She asked not to die in-hospital & refused to sign a DNR & I don't understand this at all. Is there anything at all I can do?
I have experienced hospice to be kind, compassionate and NOT drug pushers, when my sister said no morphine, they said okay. I'm sorry for all of you that watched unscrupulous medical staff harm your LO and did not advocate for them, it must be a hard burden to carry. You can still act, turn these people into the appropriate authorities and get them out of the medical field before they do it again. Evil prevails when good people do nothing!
I am sorry you lost your husband and it sounds like he was very ill. I just don’t understand how you did not intervene.
If you don't agree with something and can not get an understandable explanation of the situation, request a second opinion and refuse if it seems the right thing for you to do and you are prepared to live with results of your decision. No one can stop you taking a loved one home again if you feel it is the right thing to do. Hospice will never
refuse to let you take your loved one home as long as the situation is acceptable and the family is capable of taking proper care. it is not unusual for a patient to be taken home and realize their heart felt wish to die at home.
The more you know about how the body works, the better it is to understand what is happening to your love one.
Forum members should ALL quit engaging this crap on all the Hospice hater threads. Over and out.....
fine until they started with, Ativan, Haldol, and Morphine.
Morphine also shuts down breathing.
medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682133.html
As far as withholding food and drink? If that is happening, take your LO home. We have had to offer and hand feed my mom for over 2 years.
Remember, with Hospice this is our first time viewing such a situation, but the Hospice doctors/nurses have been around dying patients many times over. They know what to look for, what is needed, and what would be dangerous for the patient [such as food/water]. Aspiration is like choking to death.
With Hospice, the morphine is between 5mg and 15mg. In order for morphine to take down a person it would need to be 200mg. Nurses know when it comes to pain how the patient reacts. The pain in your Dad's legs could have been an indicator that he was on the path to his final chapter.
Patients also rally for a couple of days before falling into a coma, that is normal with or without Hospice. Giving a dying person food or water could be very painful for them because the stomach stops working.
Important to note, one's timetable for passing is the same with or without Hospice.
If home care results in a fall, you are better off in a hospital where multiple people can move the patient and a hoyer lift is available.
The DNR is signed by the HCP and the doctor. It is not up to the HCP alone.
It is not easy to sign that paper, but watching someone suffocate without morphine to help the breathing would be unbearable.
Hospice doesn't stop food and water. It's the patient who refuses to eat or drink as they know that death is coming soon. There is nothing one can do to reverse that, except make the patient very comfortable. You wouldn't want your friend in terrible pain and COPD can make a person feel like they are suffocating.
Just curious, who did sign the DNR?