Hospice Care Needs Saving

Ira Byock, MD

Ira Byock is a doctor, an author of several books about living (and dying) and an authority in the field of hospice care.

Summary

In this article, Dr. Byock summarizes how hospice care has shifted from it’s non-profit roots to a for-profit, mega-million-dollar industry in our country… At the expense of those who are most in need of care and advocacy during this time in their living journey.

We are all alive. We all will die. It’s our role as a national community supporting each other in this country to advocate and speak out for change… A change to care and support that all of us may one day need in our own journey.

If you would like to know more about this issue, I’ve recently found a study published by CEPR – the Center for Economic and Policy Research – titled “Preying on the Dying: Private Equity Gets Rich in Hospice Care”. Both of these articles shine a bright light on how profit has compromised a beautiful and genuine effort to provide comfort and compassionate care to those who are dying and their people. We have a choice to advocate and make our voices heard to change this vital and necessary care structure back to it’s original intent of compassionate care at end of life.