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Originally Posted by retiredguy123
Theoretically, they are supposed to treat conditions that are not related to the patient's primary illness, such as a skin rash. But, I doubt that they would provide much treatment for a serious condition like a heart attack.
As I understand it, hospice is a Medicare Part A benefit where the hospice provider is paid a daily rate per patient to provide the hospice care. When you sign up for hospice, you are suspending your Medicare Part B benefits in exchange for the hospice care. So, if you need an expensive treatment or surgery, you would need to cancel your hospice agreement.
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My wife was in at home hospice care for 2 weeks before she died. Hospice, by definition, is end of life care. No, she did not have a nurse there on any regular basis. This may be distressing to some people but the reality was that there was not going to be any recovery and she was going to die in the hospital bed I had rented. The hospice nurse was on call 24/7 so that made it easier to cope with what was happening to her and I used the nurses availability.My wife was in significant discomfort a morphine was given to alleviate her pain. As the pain increased more was given, at the nurse’s suggestion. Again, the object of hospice is to make the dying individual as comfortable as possible until they die. Everyone reacts differently to these types of situations but hospice worked perfectly and was completely in tune with my and my wife’s wishes. My only regret is that she had to suffer for those two weeks!