3 Truths About Hospice Care

For most people, hospice care is something of a mystery. We know it means someone is close to death, but we’re not clear on many of the details. What specific care is the patient receiving? Can they have visitors? And if we do visit, what should we say or do?

Those are all normal reactions when someone close to us is nearing the end of life. Many of these feelings are rooted in fear of death and the unknown. While we may never get over our fear of death, we can look at hospice as an opportunity for meaningful visits or conversations with the person we are losing. Many people do not get a chance to do so before a friend or loved one dies.

Let’s look at some facts about hospice care that may help demystify it and perhaps ease the discomfort of visiting with someone who is a hospice patient.

Truth No. 1: Hospice Is a Type of Care, Not a Place

Although we commonly say someone has “gone into” hospice, it’s actually a type of care, not a specific location. The National Association for Home Care & Hospice defines it as:

[A] comprehensive approach to end-of-life care that is designed to maximize comfort for a person who is terminally ill by reducing pain and addressing physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs.

A doctor must certify that the patient’s life expectancy is six months or less if their illness or condition runs its typical course. In most cases, hospice care can be provided wherever the patient prefers to spend their final days. Many choose the comfort of their own home, while others stay in their long-term care or rehabilitation center. Others receive hospice care in the hospital.

Hospice care provides comfort care only, without any additional measures to prolong the patient’s life. Comfort care includes pain relief, spiritual care, and social needs. Hospice caregivers may include a nurse; physical, occupational or speech therapists; home care aides; and counselors or social workers. Visits from a chaplain or spiritual adviser are also welcome as the patient wishes. Another important aspect of hospice care includes bereavement and grief support for family and loved ones.

Truth No. 2: The Patient Can Change Their Mind Anytime

Accepting that it’s time for hospice care is hard on any patient, and it can take a great deal of psychological and emotional work to reach that point of acceptance. It is not uncommon for a patient to change their mind and continue with possible curative treatment. Each hospice patient has the right to make this decision anytime and for any reason. Hospice care will end accordingly, with thorough communication between the patient’s doctors and the hospice care providers.

Similarly, the patient may decide to resume hospice care and will be admitted if the six-month prognosis is the same.

Truth No. 3: Hospice Can Be a Time of Grace

Time spent in hospice care can be less about sadness and grief and more about acceptance and peace—perhaps even with a dash of celebration. “People often imagine hospices to be dark and dismal places where there is nothing left to experience but dying,” wrote Rachel Clarke, a doctor with Britain’s National Health Service, in a New York Times article. “But what dominates my work is not proximity to death but the best bits of living. Nowness is everywhere.”

Clarke was describing patients who wanted to experience nature as fully as possible before dying. If the patient is alert, those requests—which may seem modest to the rest of us but mean so much to the patient—are possible. And so are the (usually) more challenging interpersonal moments when friends and loved ones express gratitude and joy for the patient’s life and share loving words and memories. The “best bits of living,” as Clarke called them, can be a source of peace for both the patient and those who are left to grieve.

For a limited time, receive the book “Gone From My Sight: The Dying Experience,” which helps families understand and prepare for their loved one’s end-of-life journey. Request your free copy.

Right at Home’s professionally trained and insured/bonded caregivers can provide hospice support through the home care agency’s many services when hospice care workers are not on-site with the family. Contact your local Right at Home office* to get more information and ask for a FREE in-home consultation.

*Home care services vary by location.