Who is Eligible for Hospice?

Hospice care is available to anyone, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, religion or national origin.  Hospice becomes appropriate when the focus curing is no longer supporting the patient's quality of life.  Whether they have come to this decision on their own, or their doctor has encouraged them to consider it, patients have decided they do not want to spend any more of the time they have left seeking aggressive curative treatment.

For years the majority of hospice patients have had cancer.  Recently, new guidelines have been established that help hospice evaluate and admit patients with heart, lung, kidney and liver disease as well as Alzheimer's and dementia.  For more information on these guidelines, please call Hearts for Hospice.

The attending physicians must be willing to certify that, assuming the disease follows its normal course the patient has a life expectancy of six months or less.  Some people live longer.  Some even "graduate" from hospice.  That is OK.