Alzheimer's Blogging, Alzheimer's Blog:

I thought I would talk a little about Hospice Care. Hospice care is the end of life care for families with a family member who is dying, and they want to die at home or in a hospice building with the help of health professionals and volunteers. The goal of Hospice is to give the dying person peace, comfort and dignity to the end of their life. Hospice also helps support the patients family.

I could not have gone through my father in laws death without Hospice Care. A nurse came over once a week to take his vitals, and ask him questions and also to talk to us and help us with any questions we may have had. They told us what to do to prepare for his death, who to call and the medication to give him to keep him from pain.

When my father in law spit his food out at me and stopped responding to me, the nurse came over and let us know his organs were already shutting down, and to respect his wishes. When I questioned them about giving him a feeding tube they told me that I was only prolonging his death. They were right.

I work on an ambulance and I see patients from nursing homes who don't really respond to me but are hanging on to a little life because their families have had feeding tubes put in. I take patients back and forth from nursing home to hospital because the patients continue to pull out their feeding tubes.

What happens when your loved one with Alzheimer’s decides not to eat?
This is a very common problem. The real question is, how aggressive should we be in treating our loved one in the late stage of Alzheimer's. Do we authorize medical treatment for our loved one as their minds go away, yet their bodies live on. Alzheimer's patients can not speak for themselves about their care. Some family members argue that intense treatment in late stages of Alzheimer's is inappropriate, even cruel, and the costs are excessively high. For some family members the cost are not an issue, so when their kidneys fail, they get dialysis, and infections are
treated with intravenous antibiotics. We want guidance and want to be told what is appropriate. There is the unspoken concern that if treatment is stopped, we will be judged by family, friends, and church. We need support groups and counseling about the loss of the ability to eat and drink, and to know that now the loved one has entered into the terminal phase of the illness. We should let our loved ones die peacefully. The Alzheimer's Association guidelines on patients in the final stages of the disease say that it is ethically permissible to with hold feeding tubes and
that spoon feeding should be continued if needed for comfort.

I hope this helps. Remember don't put off any kindness that you can show today.

Sincerely,
Marie Fostino
Alzheimer's A Caretakers Journal
Seaboard Press An Imprint Of James A Rock Pub., Co.
www.mariefostino.com
www.mariefostino.blogspot.com