Tuesday, September 18, 2007
DARK HOSPICE
Matt Abbott's column today offers a perspective on the Hillary Clinton proposal for health care that we are not likely to hear about on the evening news:
'With all the talk by the candidates these days, there's a huge focus on health care and how to cover those who are uninsured. Whether Republicans or Democrats, none of the candidates are discussing the 'elephant in the room,' i.e. hospice's role in balancing the budget and making it possible to fully fund new health care proposals.
'What I call 'dark hospice' is steadily moving forward, becoming the norm in the hospice industry. It's not the pure, altruistic mission it was for those who volunteered in the early days of hospice's start in the U.S. It's all about big monetary savings for the state and federal government-funded insurance programs (Medicare and Medicaid) and private insurance companies.
'Dark hospice intends the death of patients. Yet, they still pretend to be the old-time, dedicated hospice the public expects — 'We never hasten death, nor do we prolong dying,' or a hundred variations of the same theme. The idea was that hospice did not try to cure the incurable, but did everything it could to relieve pain and suffering at the end-of-life. Well, yes, of course, many still do that. But many hospices are really into hastening death and are true believers in the mission of 'controlling' death so that it occurs when it is desired (most often by the staff that imposes it).
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