MYTH

REALITY

Hospice is where you go when there is nothing more a doctor can do.

Hospice is a philosophy of care providing medical, emotional, and spiritual care focusing on comfort and quality of life.

Good care at the end of life is very expensive.

Medicare beneficiaries pay little or nothing for hospice, and most insurance plans, HMOs and managed care plans include hospice coverage. At Hospice of San Joaquin, a not-for-profit hospice, no patient or family is ever charged for our services.

Hospice is only for the last few days of life.

Hospice patients and families can receive care for six months or longer, depending upon the course of the illness.

Choosing hospice means giving up all medical treatment.

Hospice places the patient and family at the center of the care-planning process and provides high-quality pain management and symptom control.  Ideally, curative care when exhausted is followed by palliative care (therapies like radiation or chemotherapy) and when exhausted is followed by hospice care.

Everyone dies in a hospital.

Hospice is an alternative to an institutional death.  Hospice goes to the patient and family at home—whether that’s a private home, a nursing home or assisted living facility, or a hospice residence.

Hospice is only for cancer or AIDS patients.

Over 55% of hospice patients are diagnosed with conditions other than cancer or AIDS. All terminal diagnoses qualify.

Families are not able to care for people with terminal illnesses.

Hospice involves the family and offers professional support and training in caring for their loved ones.

Hospice is just for the elderly.

Hospice serves anyone facing a life-limiting illness, regardless of age.

There’s no hospice in my area.

Less than one percent of Medicare beneficiaries live in an area where hospice is not available.

Hospice only focuses on the dying process.

Hospice offers grief and bereavement services to family members and the community.  Hospice care focuses on celebrating the life the patient still has to live.