Description

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What marks the beginning of a terminal illness? Will I have to change my doctor when I go into a hospice? What kind of information will a hospice need when I contact them? How can children become involved when a patient is in the hospice program? Is hospice care different for people with HIV/AIDS than for people with cancer or other terminal conditions? Answers to these questions and more are provided by this helpful resource. Written in question-and-answer format, the book explains what hospice/palliative care is, describes the services offered to both patient and family, admission requirements, Medicare coverage, reimbursement issues, resources available to both patient and family, and how to locate hospices in different parts of the United States. Special sections are devoted to AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, Advance Directives, the physician's role, and euthanasia. In addition to providing a resource to patients and their families, the basic knowledge will be helpful to nursing students, medical students and interns, and social workers working with terminally ill patients--in short, anyone seeking to help terminally ill patients and their families make informed decisions during a time of trauma and crisis.

About the Author

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Virginia F. Sendor (M.S., M.P.A.), a Hospice and Geriatric Consultant and Advocate, is Chair of the Palliative and Hospice Care Institute for Education, Research, and Care (a division of the American Institute of Life-Threatening Illness and Loss, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center). Patrice M. O'Connor (R.N., M.A., C.N.A.) is a Palliative Care Consultant, Educator, Group Facilitator, and Board Member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement, and has been a Palliative Care Consultant for St. Luke Roosevelt Hospital Center and Beth Israel Medical Center in New York.