Pros & Cons of Hospice Care
Hospice care is intended to make comfortable and facilitate as much as possible the experience of a patient who has been given 6 or fewer months to live. A difficult experience no matter how you look at it, there are pros and cons to placing a patient in hospice care. Considering each is an important step in making an informed decision about the future of a dying loved one.
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Comfort
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Hospice care gives patients the opportunity to spend their last days at home, where many prefer to be, as opposed to the unfamiliar or noncomforting environment of a medical facility.
Cost
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Hospice care often costs less than a stay at a nursing home or hospital facility and, in most cases, is covered by either private insurance or Medicare.
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Emotional Support
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Professionals educated in hospice care are specially trained in psychological and emotional counseling to help the patient and loved ones deal with the pain associated with an impending death.
Relief Vs. Cure
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The goal is to provide relief for symptoms, as opposed to working to find a cure. Many people have trouble accepting this as anything other than giving up.
Accepting Reality
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Placing a patient in hospice care often forces all involved parties to comes to terms with the unnerving fact that the patient does not have much longer to live. Some see this as a good thing, as it is essentially a reality check, while others feel it is unnecessarily traumatic.
Privacy
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Providing hospice care involves having medical professionals constantly at your home, and some families begin to feel after a while that this is an intrusion on their emotional privacy during difficult times.
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