Has anyone filed a legal action against Hospice for premature deaths from medications and results?

Not to sound harsh but to be accepted by hospice, they are determined have less than 6 mos to live. Terminal with death imminent. To be accepted by hospice (a Medicare benefit) a request for hospice placement needs to be done by either their personal physician, or the hospitalist ( if they were in a hospital), or by the medical director (if they were in a NH); then the hospice does their own evaluation as to the terminal probability of the patient. They both have to agree that the condition is terminal for them to go onto hospice. The individual or their DPOA / MPOA agreed to hospice. Personally, I doubt that " premature death" concept could get any consideration if they are in hospice.

My MIL died with 3 weeks in a free standing hospice only facility and was on pretty serious drugs as she was septic with multiple organ failures and in deep pain. Facility had a pretty sophisticated pain management system. My mom was on hospice for 18 mos at a NH with low but consistent pain & anxiety medications for the entire time. Mom basically withering away bedfast from 100 lbs to under 60 lbs. If hospice could have over-medicated my mom to hasten her demise it would have been a good thing...if I could have signed off for this to be done, I would have as the last couple of months were like watching a self mummifcation....but this is not what hospice does nor allows to happen.

Also for any Medicare related lawsuit - should it even be successful- Medicare will require reinbursement for costs paid by Medicare from a settlement. This is due to the Medicare Secondary Payor Act (MSPA) which went into effect in 2010 but based on the Medicare Act that Bush signed in 2006. Just how MSP is done is pretty involved. Because of MSPA, it may be harder to find a lawyer.

Here is some important information regarding morphine. Hospice uses 5mg to 15mg to help control pain in a patient. To end someone's life using morphine, that patient would need over 200mg of said medicine. So please let's stop with the finger pointing that Hospice had ended someone life.

The body will shut down on its own time table whether Hospice is being used or not. Hospice is for comfort. I have used Hospice twice on the recommendation of my parents doctors, and was glad I did. I wouldn't wanted either of them to suffer while on their coming death time table.

So many people don't understand what Hospice is for. It is comfort care only, the patient signs and agrees that is what they want. Sometimes that is really hard for children who want them to keep going. I have seen a lot of posts from grief-stricken children who thought there was more time for mom or dad.
If you withhold the morphine, they suffer terribly. Not fair to them.

This thread will go on forever. There's a similar thread still going with over 500 posts. The same back and forth: hospice killed my loved one.....No, hospice is a good thing. So here we go again. No ones mind is going to be changed by any debate on the subject. I'm not even sure if it's legit or just cannon fodder to stir up the forum. It's not productive and I suggest we move on.

this is an older post, but I wanted to add to it anyways. Windyridge, I disagree with you completely. If we move on, the problem continues. My mother was euthanized by Hospice one month ago for a "maybe" broken hip. The hospice nurse talked my sisters into refusing an xray, saying it would be too painful for her. However, it apparently wasn't painful for my mother to go 10 days with no food or water while being kept in a Roxanol induced coma???? After a battle with my sisters, an xray was done, but too late for my mother. No broken hip, no tissue damage, no foreign body, no bone lesion. My mother had dementia and my father had passed away, under Hospice care, the day before my mother fell. The nurse said to me that she didn't feel my mothers quality of life was ideal, and this was the better solution. My mother was euthanized for having a bruised hip and dementia. Do we really want Hospice nurses deciding when our lives should be ended? My mother was healthy other than the dementia. I, too, would like to know if there is anything that can be done legally to help stop Hospice from having this power. I understand that Hospice is about comfort care, but this wasn't comfort care. This was a Hospice nurse deciding it was time for my mothers life to end. It was not God's will, it was hospice will.. They have too much power and it needs to stop. Attitudes of "lets move on" just mean it will continue.

My husband's deceased wife was cancer free and NOT terminal and hospice "eased" her out anyway.

My father is in hospice care and they won't give him water, how is this supposed to be COMFORT CARE?!?

I am sorry you felt you had to do this. I do know there is a great deal of guilt that many of us suffer from after using Hospice. Was it the right thing to do? From what I have been told this is almost universal to the loved one left behind. I spoke with my Pastor who is also the Hospice Chaplin. I told him I felt guilty. The Therapist assured me that what I felt was common.

My concern was that the nursed was absent any compassion. She was in and out so fast, that I was never able to bond with her. I never learned to trust her. Hospice is so busy and only three nurses at the time. I hope they have changed that issue. As when you are rushed, there is always the question....Did I do the right thing based on the nurses behavior.

However, if we loose Hospice, we are back to watching our loved one suffer from the doctors who are refusing to give proper pain medication now days. They are being instructed to not give out the drugs due to our drug infected population. Especially, in my area.

My son has horrible back pain and they are so tight with the drugs that he suffers prematurely from breaking down of his entire body due to the pain. It is crazy!

I wish you well and I pray that Hospice does not become like some of the doctors who refuse to issue pain meds on a regular basis trusting you are not a druggie.

My husband's deceased wife was cancer free and NOT terminal and they killed her anyway.

Abandoned, in the dying process the organs fail, the body shuts down and giving someone food or water won't help them, on the contrary it hurts them. Moistening the mouth would help.