Hospice Cares For The Person - Not Just The Patient

Whenever a client tells me that hospice is a place “where you go to die,” I respond like this: “Actually, it’s a place you go to live! To live out your end-days in comfort, in a warm, compassionate, atmosphere, without tubes sticking out of you. It’s a place where you go to live out the last days of your life with dignity.”

Yes, hospice focuses on palliative care – the relief of pain. But it also focuses on the whole person, and the whole family, to address spiritual, psychological, or financial pain.

We’re a complex species. And our pain, of course, can be emotional as well as physical. But hospice addresses both. Because it’s focused on treating pain, and not on keeping you “alive” as long as possible, hospice cares as much for the psyche as it does the physical.

I’ve mentioned this before in my writings…but it bears mentioning again. Numerous studies have shown that terminal patients in hospice live longer than those in hospitals – and that the quality of their remaining time is better.

Hospice is so concerned about servicing the whole person, in fact, that they’ll even do it in the patient’s home. And after the patient passes, hospice is there for the family, with a soft shoulder, spiritual guidance, counseling, bereavement groups, etc.

Now, I ask you – Does this sound like “a place you go to die?” Or a place you go to actually live the last days or weeks or months of your life – spiritually and emotionally as well as physically?

Many new clients come to me with misperceptions about hospice. And you may have some, too. No doubt you have questions. But we can help – because we have answers.

At The Law Offices of Alice Reiter Feld & Associates, we practice Elder Law – and only Elder Law. Over the past 34 years, we’ve answered questions for thousands of South Florida families. And we’ve helped them plan for the future, with comprehensive estate plans, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, long-term care plans, asset-protection plans, and assistance with Medicaid or the VA.

We can answer your questions. And we’re just a phone call away.