My friend's mom who has AD went to the hospital because she aspirated a piece of food. She was physically very healthy. Doctor at the hospital told family they wouldn't treat for pneumonia because she was admitted under hospice. We tried to cancel hospice in order to receive antibiotics and were told we couldn't. Doctor told us if we wanted antibiotics we would have to pay for the medications and the hospital stay out of pocket. He discharged her after several hours basically to die. All she needed was a course of antibiotics and to have the phlegm suctioned out of her throat. Was this legal???
Aspiration pneumonia is serious business and is often not so easy as a course of antibiotics.
I'm sorry that your friend lost her mother in this way. It must be very upsetting for her anyway; but you can help her more by clarifying what really happened along the whole chain of events, than by encouraging her to believe that the hospital intentionally killed her mother who otherwise would have returned to a healthy, happy life.
Yes get all the facts so you can help your friend through this.
I took care of a hospice patient that probably had aspiration pneumonia. The Hospice doctor, when notified, prescribed oral antibiotics which cleared things up a bit but he has pulmonary fibrosis and upper respiratory infections are common.
"Physically very healthy" does not describe a Hospice patient.
I am sorry you and your friend are going through this.
Because hospice treatment can be sticky business - allowing someone to die without much or any medical intervention - even in cases when antibiotics might prolong life - there are guidelines and rules governing hospice treatment. These rules are mandated by our government.
To start - for someone to be accepted into hospice it is required that a doctor determine that the patient has six months or less to live. This isn't a perfect science - as we know but within that determination there is again, criteria that must be met. Beyond a diagnosis of a terminal illness - is the patient losing weight - and just not a pound or two? How much time does the patient spend sleeping? How rapidly is the patients quality of life declining? Blood pressure, oxygen saturation levels, ability to swallow etc. If a patient meets the required criteria they can be placed in hospice care. If a patient ceases to meet the criteria on a consistent basis - they are usually taken off hospice.
Unfortunately, it's become a bit of an urban legend that you can just sign your parent up for hospice and they'll help you speed along death. Its just not that simple. Remember- government is involved - and that ALWAYS makes things a bit harder.
Often hospice will treat things like a UTI with antibiotics- it's considered a comfort issue. However, if the patient has an Advanced Directive stating wishes to the contrary regarding end of life measures - hospice will honor that.
As the other replies have stated - there was very likely more going on in the health and care of this lady than is readily apparent.
With aspiration, some of the food/liquids go into the lungs because the swallowing part of our body becomes very narrow.... harmful bacteria develop, thus pneumonia will happen.
My Dad had antibiotics and suction done, but the hospital highly recommended my Dad be placed on Hospice. There was no cure for his aspiration situation. And please note, with dementia, the patient can forget how to swallow.
Plus Dad had a Medical Directive that instructed no food tubes, etc. A couple weeks later he passed.