Hospice Workers Should Speak Truth and Reason to Schiavo Case

Hospice Workers are "Dignified Death Professionals". They are some of the most caring, compassionate people I have ever met. They help people die, which is the natural, inevitable outcome of life.

I lost my father in 2000. He died in a VA hospice. The workers there cared for him, giving him whatever medication they could to ease his suffering.

They also cared for our family, teaching us that death was natural and something that happened to everyone, and that it was a blessed release to those who are suffering with terminal illness.

Hospice Care is available to everyone in the US. There is no means testing. When there is no hope of getting better, the treatment shifts from remedial to palliative. The doctors no longer seek to "cure" anything, but they do everything they can to provide comfort. They will give patients huge doses of narcotics plus whatever other RX drugs that could possibly make them feel better. There is no worry about addiction or about giving a patient "too much" or about side effects or medical complications. They just try to make you feel as good as possible while you die. This is available to everyone in the US free of charge.

The people who work in Hospice Care have a rational view of death as a natural process. I suspect that they are appalled by the spectacle of the Schiavo case and the potential harm it could do to the compassionate care they provide for the dying. To prolong the life of a dying person who is suffering and is not going to recover is a form of torture.

Hospice Professionals seem to me to be the most appropriate people to speak up and offer an expert opinion on the Schiavo case. The media ought to seek out and air their views on this case.

Absolutely wonderful people

Maybe their discretion is one of the things which makes them what they are.

since the lawsuits have been filed.
It is public record. However, the hospice is certainly acting with dignity in regard to her care and is guarding her privacy.
With that being said, it doesn't matter how many hospice workers testify about what really happens, it won't do any good.
These fanatics know the truth and still choose to spew vile lies--which some will believe and the intelligent ones will disregard.

a REAL link would be appreciated. Any will do... and don't link to Mega HMO's and PPO's that do it on the side (for a loss in taxes).

I am a oncology social worker.

there are non profit and for profit hospices

for profit hospices are means tested....no money, no refferal

I also had a non profit turn down a patient in Ga.

;)

;)

I'll check in the AM.

or had a good nights sleep

But I don't need to prove it. I work with them all the time, so to me it is personal knowledge. Not my concern if you believe me or not.

especially if you would just type " for profit hospice" in google you can see

:-)

I am an RN case manager. What I have seen is very few hospice cases don't have insurance. Usually people can get state aid if they aren't medicare or have an HMO. There have been rare hospice cases where we used memorial funds donated to us to cover people. The way things are changing though who knows what will happen. Of course we count on our social workers to figure all of that out and help get people what they need. Hospice saves Medicare money so the program has so far been saved. There are for profit hospices also. I don't know if they will ever take anyone without insurance.

about their work and about the dying process and even what they do to help people through the dying process....perhaps then people would understand a bit better....then again, they have so much dignity and respect for privacy and such a private and personal matter....

My Grandmother died in a hospice....I will never forget how hard it was for me to watch her die, but the workers there were truly amazing. There was a handsome young male nurse and my Grandmother in her final days was actually "flirting" with him and told me he was her boyfriend. The cutest thing was that he actually flirted back with her and brought her little gifts and I swear, there was a twinkle in her eye when he entered the room and he put that twinkle in her eye even though her body was withering and she was dying....I was so thankful to him for giving her that gift of "life" in her dying days....what a gift that was....:hug:

*sigh* :loveya:

Thank you. :)

....what a gift we should all have as our last memory while here and going on to the next journey...

I wish I could remember his name...All I know is that I couldn't thank him enough and I told him that and he smiled and you know, I genuinely think he did love my Grandma...O8)

It's got to take a special kind of person to do this vital work, and "loving" is no doubt an important characteristic.

that I took at hospice, that was open to all in the community.

It would clear up so many myths and fears

is because they're afraid they'll get what is happening to Schavio to them. I would be afraid too.

are not known to be something fundies accept.

and I only needed to go care for her at the very end, when she was too weak to get to a bedside potty chair. They were absolutely wonderful, especially with my father who was completely new to all of it.

I don't think getting any hospice people directly involved in her care to speak to the media is a good idea. In the first place, Schivo has the right to die in privacy with her family around her without having her caregivers talking to media. In the second place, the fringe element would likely target them with threats, stalking, and perhaps actual violence.

One of the things that troubles me the most about the Schiavo case is the way hospice care has been denigrated, and the hospice workers made out to be villians. One thing's for sure, we certainly haven't heard any complaints from the hospice caregivers regarding discontinuing the feedings.

It always interests me that this particular type of religionista never talks about God's will being done, never considers that medicine got in the way 15 years ago by resuscitating her, and never seems to consider death a homegoing. As the pick and choose the scripture they like, they seem to leave that out.
morcatknits

This is how I got my mother, who was very against the idea of Hospice, and was specifically hung up on the feeding tube issue with my father, to realize that it was the right thing to do to remove the tube.

I asked her, "when God sends angels to take dad home, do you really want to tie him down to earth with tubes and wires? Isn't that like defying God's will?" She understood. It was very hard for her, but she agreed that when God called someone home, it was not for us to defy Him and thwart Him.

This is so obvious I cannot believe people do not see it. Christians believe that God watches over believers, and they use the expression "God called Joe home" when another Christian dies.

Somehow they never extend that line of thinking to say things like, "God called Joe home to heaven, but the angels returned to Heaven empty handed and with singed wings as a result of the defibrillator's shock paddles."

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."
-Psalm 116:15

..as my father is dying. They are wonderful. They expressed dismay at how the Shiavo situation is being handled.

and your family! Don't be fooled by all the agendas on this board, right now. Your family should be allowed to grieve in peace and celebrate the life of your father together!

My father, who can be quite difficult, is going out with grace and humor.

I'm concerned! I had a very young child when we used Hospice the last time and I was worried about how she was handling it. The Hospice worker told me something that has rung true about my daughter, now near grown and gone, since the day she said it. She told me ALL children seem to have a natural born instinct when it comes to death. MOST of them accept it as a part of life and realize it is not unnatural when it is done with dignity, but your daughter is an old soul. She clearly sympathizes with all of the grieving adults in this house, but she ALSO knows her GG is better off where she is going.

My daughter sat with her GG off and on holding her hand up until the very end. When her GG passed she reached over, patted my hand, and said "It's OK mommy, GG's in Heaven now!" Every adult in that room felt the relief wash over them when she said those words. She was only 4 at the time.

If a 4 year old can see this "truth" why can't the parents of this tortured soul let her go to God?

is they are very much intune with the spiritual side of life and are still new to this dimension and planet and our culture. I question Schavio's parents motiaves because of their actions and everything. If they really were Christians and knew of God and Heaven wouldn't they want their daughter to go to that wonderful place with her Creator?

clear that the Schindler's are afraid for Terri. to me, that is lack of faith. Terri's journey to God has been a long time in coming. It's seems like torture to be kept in limbo for 15 years. I hope God has watched over Terri all this time and relieved whatever pain her soul was going through. IMO that would be what Jesus would do.

Yes children have a special connectedness with the spiritual aspect of life. I often wonder if those "imaginary friends" aren't really "imaginary" after all. My daughter was one of those kids that could play for hours by herself, but she "talked" to people at her tea parties like a chatter box. She has grown on to become quite the writer and she just has a sixth sense about "religion" verses "spirituality."

My father has always had that too. He claims he knows his guardian angel is his grandmother and he talks to her in his sleep. He has needed a guardian angel MANY times in his life! he is one of the luckiest and most spiritually in-tuned people I have ever met, despite the fact he has never been very "religious." he hasn't gone to church since Bible School" for anything other than Weddings, Baptisms, and Funerals, yet his faith is unshakable!

visited the grandfather often in the condition he was in. One day she refused to go into the room he was in. When asked why she said because there was an angel on the ceiling. He died that night.

I often wonder whether we are born with the ability to see the un-see-able and know the unknowable, but as we learn the rest of the things we need to know to survive this world we lose all that information.

It seems to me it is the perfect explanation for why some people still retain it. I believe some people have psychic ability. Maybe they just never let go of the information that told them how to use that piece of the brain others lost!

Maybe we could lobby C-Span to cover a symposium if one were to be held.

I so agree with you. Both my mother and hubby's mother received hospice care in the hospital. I can't imagine anyone not benefiting from accurate knowledge about the good care both the patient and loved ones receive.

The hospice workers, the brain specialists, etc. And the reason is, they know the somber truth and are forced to withstand the viscious attacks by DeLay, Randall Terry and their band of idiots who don't have a compassionate bone in their body.

who have done Hospice with a parent or other family member, I'm so sorry to see all the awful comments in the media and even on DU.

I can't think what it must feel like to have gone through it and made some peace and then read about "murder" and "barbarism" and so on.

Since my mom is a nurse's aide, My mom wanted to take care of my dad right before he died, at home, and hospice nurses came everyday to the house, helping us take care of him before he passed away. I have to say they did great job in assisting my mother, and helping us cope with his death. My family was so grateful for the they did, we asked for donations to be given to the local hospice in my area in his obituary.