What diagnoses are covered under hospice?
Any individual, of any age, who has a life-limiting illness is eligible for hospice services. A physician will determine when an illness has reached this stage. If the physician has not mentioned hospice and the patient feels that the curative treatment no longer helps, the patient and family should discuss the possibility of hospice with the physician. Diseases that are cared for in hospice include but are not limited to the following: • Cancer • Pulmonary disease (such as chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive disease, emphysema, and fibrosis) • Heart disease (such as congestive heart failure, heart attacks, and hardening of the arteries to the heart) • Kidney failure • Multiple Sclerosis • AIDS • Peripheral vascular disease • Amotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) • Alzheimer’s disease • Liver failure • End stage cirrhosis Many other diagnoses could be included on this list, and a discussion of the diagnosis and prognosis with the physician will help in deciding whethe
