You may be eligible for hospice services when:
Your primary physician determines that you have a life limiting diagnosis with a life expectancy of six months or less, AND
You and your family elected treatment to focus on symptoms and pain relief versus curative treatment.
Examples of life limiting conditions may include:
- Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia with inability to walk
- Cancer with distant metastasis
End stage diseases including:
- Liver or kidney – not eligible for transplant or eligible but choose not to pursue a transplant
- Heart – cardiac insufficiency at rest
- Lung – bed to chair existence
Other contributing factors could be:
- Development of wounds
- Mainly chair and bed-bound requiring assistance for all activities of daily living (ADLs)
- Multiple emergency room visits or hospitalizations
- Repeated and frequent infections
- Significant, recent weight loss with refusal or inability to eat or drink enough to sustain life
- Swallowing problems or choking
While pain and symptom management is a priority of hospice care, the ultimate goal is to assist you and your family in achieving what is most important to you at the time when quality of life matters most.