I've been in healthcare for over 30 years but my experience with hospice is very limited. I was exposed to it decades ago when my grandmother was dying from cancer. It was the very end, she was in terrible pain, and was given morphine until she died.
Lately I've been hearing about people under hospice care for various reasons and I was hoping some hospice nurses can answer my questions. I'll give an example:
93 y.o. Female with end-stage CHF. When hospice took over she was taken off of ALL medications. Thyroid, blood thinners, htn meds, stomach meds, all gone at once. Why would they do this? How does that help? She wasn't at the very end of her life. She probably had 5-6 months to go (if nothing drastic happened like a stroke or heart attack.)
After a couple of weeks she started getting anxious. She was given up to 2mg of haldol every four hours 24/7. It was continuous. She received morphine here & there, even if she claimed to be comfortable. Over time she didn't even wake up. She stopped eating and drinking and died.
Total time was 6 weeks.
It seems like her death was hastened by hospice. I can't see it any other way. Is this normal now in the U.S? Did I miss something over the las few years? I'm shocked.
There are many other stories similar to this online. I never really paid attention because they are found under "hospice kills" or "hospice horror stories" or similar titles. Given what I've read I can't say I disagree.
Can someone help me understand this and how the nursing profession sees hospice care today? I was considering specializing in hospice care but I think I'd have a moral dilemma treating a patient this way. And how can it be explained to the family if I'm not even comfortable with the plan?
Do all hospices follow this protocol or are these isolated cases?
