The hospice benefit is available to anyone with a life expectancy of six months or less if the terminal illness or disease runs its normal course. The patient, or course, must choose to elect hospice, and the patient’s eligibility must be certified by a physician (most of ten the patient’s personal physician in conjunction with the hospice’s medical director.)
We believe there should be no barriers to high quality end-of-life care. Hospice of Texas patients retain control of their care and are encouraged to assist in making choices as to the care they receive. Often our patients do not have to discontinue their current treatments, if they are palliative in nature, and do not have to abandon hope for peace, comfort, and dignity. There are no further conditions or restrictions, beyond the eligibility requirements stated above.
Patients eligible for hospice often are diagnosed with:
- ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Cancer
- Dementia
- Heart disease
- Kidney disease
- Liver disease
- Lung disease Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson’s
- Stroke
In addition, Hospice of Texas provides services to many patients whose health is rapidly declining even if they do not have a specific disease diagnosis. Again, the critical factor is a prognosis of six months or less.
