civilized

I agree with you on their "medical euthanasia" stuff, but they were born out of the whole Teri Schiavo case. I believe one of Teri's hospice nurse's was a founder? However they are great on researching the facts. I don't think there is a journalist in the country who doesn't use them to get facts for their stories. And lawyers love them as well! I met one of the board members and he told me they have 2 million hits a year to their website, that is pretty impressive. They are very knowledgable folks when it comes to hospice.

According to Hospice Patients Alliance the largest hospice patient advocates group in the country: Back during the Clinton administration Vitas were under investigation for 50 million in "disputed federal payments" from Medicare. At the time it was owned by Hugh Westbrook who is based in Miami. It was being investigated by Janet Reno then the US attorney General and also Miami based. The case was suddenly closed without explanation. Currently it is being investigated by Texas AG & the US dept of justice for medicare fraud. However since some of the Vitas board members also sit on the NHPCO board which is the largest hospice lobbying group in the country. I wonder what the outcome of that investigation will be......

This is just 1 of many stories... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-22/preparing-americans-for-death-lets-for-profit-hospices-neglect-end-of-life.html

Run as fast as you can!