Dear Judy,
My sister called me at 10 PM on Thursday because her husband’s death rattle had started. I spend 6 agonizing hours with them. He was making the most horrific loud groan. It sounded like a wounded bull struggling to get out of quicksand.
My sister kept screaming and crying because she thought he was in [...]
The Journal of Palliative Medicine reports that terminally ill patients “more than doubled their use of hospice care” when they had insurance that paid for extensive hospice care.
This was especially true, according to an Aetna study when insurance benefits were expanded (read: “when insurance companies actually coughed up more for hospice services”) and lots of informed nurse [...]
Dear Judy,
I need help with my mother. She has been diagnosed with stomach cancer five days ago in a hospital here in Los Angeles. She is still in the hospital because they cannot release her unless someone can care for her.
I don’t have the ability to give her proper care (I work full time). Is [...]
Dear Judy,
My mother has cancer and while treatable, its not curable. I took my mom to all her appointments that led to her diagnosis (no help from my sister)and helped her find a good place for treatment - which happens to be an hour away. It’s the only place that has a specialist in her [...]
There are a lot of completely false assumptions about hospice care in America . For instance not a week goes by that I don’t get an email from someone wanting to know if his grandfather (or mother or sister) should “enter” a hospice. Or “go to a hospice” and “be registered there”.
Actually almost all hospice [...]
Dear Judy,
I am a recently trained Hospice volunteer and though I have been trained, and though I agree that my being there and listening and holding their hands does bring them comfort (and brings me a great sense of joy and privilege to be there, more feelings of worth than I ever dreamed) I [...]
Dear Judy,
My wife reads you online faithfully, and she told me to write you, but I don’t really think you can answer this. My younger sister (she’s 35) has recurrent breast cancer — twice so far — and this time it seems to have spread, according to her doctors. She won’t tell me where it’s [...]
Everyone asks this question at some time or another: hospice care which no one seemed to know anything about 20 years ago is now on the minds of anyone with a grave illness — or a terminally ill friend or relative.
But as with any other service, there are hospices to seek out and others to avoid. [...]
Dear Judy,
First, of all thank you for this very much needed service. I just wish I’d had the opportunity to access good advice during the periods of my life when I lost loved ones. Nevertheless, I am glad to have somewhere to turn now for ideas on how to deal with my own end of [...]
You can always be sure that if a program or medical movement is going really well, our government will find some way to screw it up. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have done themselves proud this time. In spring they decided to cut back on Medicare reimbursements for hospices across the nation.
What this means [...]
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Posted on January 24th, 2009