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I just lost my second parent to this same thing. My father passed in 2004. He caught a superbug infection carried into him by nurses from another patient and was a vent. They pulled vent due to DNR. Dad seemed to be holding his own well enough. A male oncoming night nurse rushed into his room with a syringe saying, “enough is enough”, injected my dads iv line and dads vitals plummeted instantly and he died. I was stunned. My brother told me to let it go, dad would have suffered so it was best. Last Weds my mom was in for early diagnosed sepsis from UTI, she pulled out of a serious deadly case of sepsis months before, and they said she was expected to this time. My POA brother decided she did not need anymore treatment, and next thing i know she was out like a light. The doctor had just been in and said that we would probably be having to decide where to move her in 3 Days, and every one left but me and the nurse came in and gave her a shot of morphine and Ativan and 15 mins later my mom died. I actually came searching to see if this is really happening in our hospitals. ;(
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Freqflyer, i disagree as a nurse with your saying they will pass on same time frame with less pain. In nursing we call this “snowing” someone. Narcotics depress the respiratory system. Such as with my mother Weds., she was sleeping due to the prior doses of morphine/Ativan mixture. Her respiration’s were steady, they were not struggled but they were more rapid then normal. Her oxygen level stat was low at 82, but It is in titration range, an hour before, she was not dying that’s for sure. She was not struggling in anyway, she was, as i said, asleep. They came in and gave that dose of morphine/Ativan and minutes later the aide took her pulse ox, and her O2 stat was at 61, and I was like WTH? Number one, if the dose itself did not cause that drop out, that still means a dose was given when she was in the low 60’s (but not struggling so no reason to give), and medically you would not give that to someone with an O2 stat that low knowing it would kill them most likely. Fifteen minutes later my mother was gone. They are snowing patients and that is sad. My mom never got to exchange love you’d and goodbyes with her children and grandchildren. I feel robbed of getting to let her know i was right there with her and loved her so much. I am now, that I actually have proof they are snowing at this hospital, writing a dnr that states I am not to be snowed, i am to be awake even if I’m pain because i want to know my family is with me and be able to tell them I love them. This is bs what they are doing. We were not with Hospice, both times this has been under regular hospital staff care.
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Parentless, please contact me.
We had the same incidents.
With both of our parents.
I’m so sorry for what your parents had to endure as well. With sincere sympathy,

Lisa
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Sorry that some folks had a bad experience. Our hospice experience was very good. Unfortunately, hospice was called late... very late. That would seem to be the case for many. I'd mentioned it to relatives multiple times in the six months before they finally called. They seemed to think hospice meant they were "giving up." Finally she was so ill they could no longer ignore reality. She could barely eat, had lost over 100 lb. and her only activity was going to the bathroom. She was unable to bathe, care for herself, could barely eat a few bites without assistance ... well, really was entirely bedbound. After a fall at home, where she hit her head, the decision was made to call hospice. What a blessing! They immediately brought a hospital bed, bedside commode ... everything we needed. Most importantly they brought liquid pain medication and anti-anxiety medication. She'd begun having very restless nights and lots of anxiety. The Ativan was quite helpful in this regard. Even after hospice was started, she had a good full two weeks of coherent interaction, able to eat little bits, joking, laughing, aware of friends and family. Then, over the next few days she gradually quit eating. She then quit drinking anything but sips to take medication. A few days later, she refused all fluids. We had to crush meds or use liquid meds. Her deterioration was rapid from here. After all fluids stopped, she slipped into a comatose state within a few days. She could rarely be roused unless she was in pain. Without the Ativan and morphine, it would have been unbearable (for her, for us ... her family & caregivers).

Four days after she began refusing fluids, she died. She was not thrashing in pain or crying out with anxiety. She was alseep, surrounded by her loved ones. It was a beautiful time ... I'm grateful she was comfortable and died peacefully in her sleep.

Grief can skew your thoughts. Often hospice is called much too late, when the loved one only has weeks, maybe even days to live. It would seem easy/logical then to assume and blame hospice. I found hospice to be only helpful. They answered calls quickly ... even nights, weekends and holidays. I say God Bless them and the work they do.
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The very same thing happened to my bosses mother. He sold her house put her in a nursing home. Paid the nursing home over 100,000.00 and after the money ran out put her in hospice. Because all her money was gone the state had to pay for her stay. Once in hospice she worsend in a week. My stomach was sick because I saw her deteriorate very quickly and passed...yes I think there death is indused.
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The real question should be, "Is there anyone's death Hospice has not rushed or actually CAUSED!!!! Cold, calculated pre-meditated or pre-medicated murder is what Hospice is all about! I have called them the "Euthanasia Crew" ever since they murdered my father with their drugs.

What amazing service they offer! No need for an Auschwitz or Dachau as Hospice will conveniently come to your home & murder you in your own bed! Or like they did when they murdered my uncle as he left the hospital to return home. They repeatedly shot him up with toxic levels of morphine (against the family's orders) so that by the time he arrived home he no longer needed care. He only needed a mortician!

Why would I call either of these deaths murder?

Because I have worked as an expert in wrongful death cases involving prescription drugs for close to three decades now & we have gathered all the evidence on both cases to prove, without a shadow of doubt, that both of these deaths were very clearly MURDER!

As these cases continue to be proven in court let's hope these nurses & doctors committing these crimes will begin to see they are actually guilty of murder & can be prosecuted as such. Maybe then, as they face the reality of their guilt, they will grow a conscience & this nightmare will finally come to an end!

Everyone needs to go to the website for Hospice Patient Alliance at www.hospicepatients.org just as I did when I went into shock at my father's extremely rapid decline & sudden death & found everything I already knew must have been the case in my father's death spelled out, demonstrating the exact method of the murder in detail! My father was dead in only days after Hospice arrived to "Help"! 

Learn the truth about what is really happening to your loved ones before it is too late for you & your loved one too!
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@Shane1124 The reason I feel as I do is my Mom was full of fight & life, she was griping at the nurses who would only give her a wet sponge stick when she was extremely thirsty, able to argue with me when I tried to explain as soon as the Dr. came in to see her we'd see about getting her a glass of water, just be patient! She was able to fight wanting to go into Hospice because she was told she could have whatever she wanted to eat & drink & they'd disconnect the tubes, IV's & picc line from her giving her more freedom to move around. She was able to argue with her sister when I told her she needed to call her thinking her sister could maybe talk her out of her decision. She was able to tell me, yes we could talk about her decision once she got settled & if we could make sure this is really what she wanted. BUT, when they moved her & Hospice nurses asked me to leave the room while they got her settled, I never dreamed it was the last words I hear of hers, never dreamed we wouldn't have another conversation, never dreamed that all the people we should have called, we'd never get the chance. She was knocked out when I got back to her room about 15-20 mins later and she never woke up again. I feel so horribly guilty for not weighing options out a little more before her going to Hospice and yet I know it was her choice, and she did tell me I did nothing wrong and said I was the best daughter one could have so that of course eases my guilty feelings but, still I struggle with it & she passed away 4 years this coming November. I don't think about it as often as I used to but, the guilt is still heavy when I do think about it! Had I known what to expect, even if we went through with her decision I would have had a goodbye conversation with her & I would have made sure she spoke with loved ones who we should have called and didn't! That's where the guilt is centered I think, I wasn't at ease with her decision & should have been & I wish the lady from Hospice had been more honest about what to expect. Instead she fed to what my mom wanted, she wanted a drink of water & she wanted to move about freely without the tubes, etc & she promised all that and promised that once we got moved if we changed our minds she could be moved back into care on the floor she was on. She should have said you need to say your goodbyes, here's what we will give her, here's what to expect & we'll give you a moment to discuss this & get all the goodbyes said before we move her!
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I think they drugged him to death, they did not make him comfortable they made him pass out, then said he had anxiety. They just did not want him to move
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they gave him methadone without any counseltation, even though i asked for a conference with the doctor, I could not get one. It was worse than horrible to see him die like that
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I'm sure that hospice has its place in certain circumstances, and they do a good job of easing the pain and comforting the dying. But it shouldn't be an absolute death sentence and routine medical care should be provided.

The overwhelming majority of people going onto hospice are elderly and on medicare. Their rule is that you can't use medicare benefits (see a doctor) when you're on hospice, so you're effectively sealed off from any treatment what so ever, even for a simple and routine UTI.

I can understand that terminal illnesses will no longer be treated, but hospice providers neglect to treat anything except for discomfort and they ignore everything else. The only solution they have to anything is to throw morphine and ativan on it. I'd be interested to find out how many hospice patients actually died from their terminal illness as opposed to a routine medical condition that was neglected.

By design, since you're no longer allowed to seek a doctors care for any reason what so ever, death is certain and hospice becomes a way to quickly dispose of the elderly in order to save medicare money. In it's present implementation, it is non-voluntary euthanasia by neglect.
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The hospital told Hospice that my 73 year old brother had Lung Cancer so my brother had a stroke back July 12 2012 was paralyzed on the right side he had one of those motorized wheel chairs he went to get in the wheel chair from his bed like he always did but it pulled him out of bed and he landed on the floor he was really in pain it looked like his leg was broken I am disabled so I couldn't get him in his pajamas everytime I tried he said it hurt so I called Hospice two nurses came a guy and a woman I tried to tell them that his leg was broken and they just talked to each other and said he had a broken hip and if he went to the hospital that they would want to do surgery and my brother would die, they told me they could take him and help him with pain that they had better food then hospital and I could even go too my brother kept asking me if he should go I said well it sounds better then what I can do so the guy nurse said he would be back at 1:30 am to pick him up so they picked my brother up and got there at 2:30 am May 13, 2018 so I called at 3:00 am they said he was resting and when ever I called they said he was resting, on May 14, 2018 a priest called and asked if he could go see my brother I said well ask him he said well he is sleeping okay if I can't wake him I will call you back he called me back and said the nurse told him that my brother wasn't waking up in the near future and I didn't know what he mean't by that my sister told the nurse to keep the priest away, so then on May 15, 2018 the nurse called me and said that my brother was like in a coma me and my sister said we were on our way we were an hour away we were almost there and they called and told me my brother died yeah all they did was give him morphine they said they didn't feed him or give him water when they gave him the morphine he never woke up, then I found out he had a broken leg not hip and that he didn't have Lung Cancer or any Cancer and they acted like he was going to die any day telling him that so if I would have taken him to the emergency room instead my brother would still be alive.
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me too
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Read the side affects of Ativan
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it was horrible. the first day , like you said, he could still talk, he said" this place is a torture chamber". And I did not get him out. .....I am sorry, Paul.
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Well, if I were dying of pancreatic cancer, I would sure welcome morphine!  I suspect that in many cases, family members do not see or feel things from the patient's view.   If you take painkillers they will likely make you "drugged" - so?? Better to be in agony?  Fact is, we are all going to die.  Family says "well, she was this bad lost year but she recovered." That does not mean she will this year.
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If you want to learn more about how the culture of death has taken over our healthcare system, please visit the Facebook page, "Exposing the Invisible Culture of Death in American Healthcare"
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Rojan99 my mother had no problem getting IV antibiotic etc. infusions for her UTIS which was often I had no problem requesting she had a private Insurance and Medicare, I was very active in Mom care. Whether they said no I was insistent.nShe is MY Mother and Had the final say, they were not (Hospice)around all day and night,
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Rosie123 I was the only caregiver to Mom. I had no complaints regarding Hospice help which was limited. I am grateful.
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