Lung Cancer Hospice Care:
When someone you love is facing end of life care for lung cancer, it can be heart breaking and difficult to know where to turn. In this article, we’ll discuss hospice care for lung cancer patients, including what it is, how hospice care can help, and how you can find support.
What is Hospice Care?
The terms hospice care and palliative care are often confused. Palliative care is a holistic approach to improving quality of life for patients with a serious illness like lung cancer by providing emotional, practical, and spiritual support. Hospice care is a form of palliative care that focuses on treating the symptoms of serious illness as the patient is approaching the end of life. Hospice care focuses on both the patient and the family, working to ensure that the patient’s goals for end-of-life care are met.Hospice care uses a team approach, much like all palliative care, with team members that include doctors, nurses, social workers, and possibly a spiritual guide such as a rabbi or chaplain. Family members are also considered an important part of the hospice team, respecting a patient’s culture and traditions. However, unlike with palliative care, the focus is no longer on prolonging life. Rather hospice care focuses on managing the symptoms of lung cancer and making the patient as comfortable as possible. Hospice may take place in the home, a nursing facility, or in a hospital setting.
How Can Hospice Care Help?
- Patient Choices: Patients can make choices about how and where they want to spend the end of their lives.
- Family Support: Hospice also offers support and counseling for family and loved ones.
- Focus on Symptom Relief: The focus of hospice care is not on prolonging life, but on relief from the symptoms of lung cancer. The goal is to make the patient as comfortable as possible while still allowing alertness and the ability to do things that they love.
- Free Medicare Benefit: If your loved one qualifies for Medicare, hospice care is a free benefit.
- Home Care: If your loved one wants to spend their time at home, home care may be possible, and the hospice team can make home visits.
- Family Support After Death: After the patient dies, hospice care offers support and resources for family and loved ones.
Where Can I Find Hospice Care?
To find hospice care in your area, you can ask your loved one’s medical team or call the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization at 800-658-8898 or visit their website at https://www.nhpco.org.If you or a loved one have been exposed to asbestos and have been diagnosed with lung cancer or another asbestos-related disease, you may be entitled to compensation. For a FREE consultation, call the Madeksho Law Firm at 1-888-910-MESO (6376), or contact us here. We have decades of experience helping victims of asbestos-related diseases.
