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My mom is bedridden and I refuse to put her through the process of getting her to a doctor appointment. She has quickly gone into what seems like the final stages of dementia in the last month. She has stopped chewing and is bed ridden most of the day. She has a live in CNA and she is wonderful and has started pureeing her foods. Her GP has her on 10 different meds and clearly nothing is working. One for alzheimers, one for Parkinsons, one for stomach acid, one for increasing appetite, one for anxiety, an inhaler (doesn't need it), one for high blood pressure, one for cholesterol, one for neuropathy (couldn't put her through that painful test so it was really never diagnosed), and a steroid. One moment when mom was awake and aware, she said she didn't feel good...like she was being poisoned. We did not put that idea in her brain and would never do that but the only meds that I can see keeping her on is the BP and the anxiety one. Her body can sometimes cause her pain mostly from lying in the same position. She cannot reposition herself so the caregiver pays close attention to that. Is this a situation for hospice and if so, I cannot vision trying to get her to the doctor for him to authorize it. We do not want her to be in pain and we do want her to be at home and comfortable! During her last doctor visit I was not allowed to ask any questions after the doctor went over 4 questions. He told me he "did not have time for 2 more." I did not see anyone else in the waiting room as we came and went. I do not want her to see him anymore because of that terrible visit. So I am very hesitant on calling his office about anything!

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You don't need to see the MD. You call Hospice and they come out and do an evaluation. There are 20+ Hospice agencies near Torrington CT. It is fully covered by Medicare. Once you are on Hospice, you have a Hospice MD and RN. No further aggressive treatments. Just comfort care.
Hospice At Home-A Program of VNS of Connecticut
Office (860) 482-6419
62 Commercial Blvd, Torrington, CT 06790
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My husband's doctor authorized hospice in a phone call, based on her ongoing treatment of him.

I think a phone call to your mother's doctor is worth a try. What do you have to lose? You may get what you want, and if you don't you are no worse off than you are now.

If a phone call doesn't work, contact the hospice organization directly. Their doctor may ask for medical records from your mother's clinic.
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When we decided upon hospice for my dad we just picked a company and called them ourselves.
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My mom rarely saw the doctor being bedridden, completely unresponsive, trache, stomach tube and 24/7 oxygen. The only time she saw a doctor was at the emergency room. And that time when I took her to the clinic to meet her new doctor. When she was close to dying, we called the home care nurse and found out that mom's ongoing hospice care had expired in September. Her new doctor did not renew it. I was not informed of its expiration. They refused to come. We were instructed that Medicare requires a doctor's referral. We called mom's doctor. He does not do house calls. We called the insurance who also owns the clinic. Their doctors never makes house calls. To even turn mom to change her pampers caused her pain based on her facial expressions. To call an ambulance, transfer her from the bed to the gurney, ride on our unpaved road to the main road, and back.. would have meant mom be in so much pain. Mom's social worker was not returning our calls (but she had the nerve to call me on my cellphone to offer her condolences after mom died.) We were in the middle with APS to help us find a middle ground for hospice when mom passed away. FYI, this same clinic's urgent care doctor turned down mom and told the EMT to take mom to the ER to reinsert the g-tube. Then the ER doctor told me that next time this happens, that I should just reinsert back myself. Mom passed away about 2 years ago. Maybe the rules have been relaxed about not seeing a doctor to request hospice. I hope it's true with your mom.
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bookluvr, Hospice told us that if we took our daughter to the ER or an MD, the contract and the service would immediately stop. Once you are on Hospice, you call them and you do not call 911. That was in 2014.
Once you took her to the clinic, you inadvertently ended Hospice care. A lot of family members don't seem to grasp that. Hospice is managed care and they make all the calls for treatment or no treatment.
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