SCENARIO – Lois, who is in the last stages of breast cancer, was recently admitted into a hospice program. Her husband Henry, is relieved to have a hospice nurse come into their home and help with the care of his wife. After Lois had been receiving care for a week, Henry asked when he should take Lois into the hospital out-patient department for more chemotherapy. The hospice nurse said, “I thought that you understood that since treatments would no longer help Lois and she would ultimately die, that she would not receive any more treatments once she entered the Hospice program.” Henry said he did not understand this and insisted that he wanted everything done to save Lois.
Instructions:
Read the scenario above and then, answer the following questions:
How could this misunderstanding have been avoided?
What discussions should Lois and Henry have had with each other before Lois went into the hospice program?
What could hospice programs do to better inform the general public of their purpose?
