Hospice meets needs of patients, families

On June 1, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was released from prison after serving eight years in a Michigan correctional facility. Kevorkian is known to many for his practices involving assisted suicide.

Kevorkian's release from prison has restarted the debate on physician-assisted suicide around the country. In Washington state, former Gov. Booth Gardner has declared he will lead a statewide campaign in 2008 for an "assisted death" initiative patterned after Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. Currently Oregon is the only state with a law providing for physician-assisted death for patients with a terminal illness.

Paramount to this issue is the concern for people who have life-limiting illnesses. For those people, much has changed since Kevorkian entered prison eight years ago. In particular, the access to excellent hospice and palliative care has increased significantly. Hospice organizations help assure that people have the knowledge of and access to all forms of therapy that have been shown to enhance quality of life and reduce suffering.

Recognizing that individuals and families have increasingly complex needs as an illness advances, hospices provide care that meets the medical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients and families to mitigate unwanted suffering. Patients are not abandoned, but are an integral part of their own care process throughout their illness. And family members are not left to cope alone in their grief. There is follow-up support for the bereaved. These are the foundational values of any hospice and palliative care program.

Last year, more than 1.2 million patients were served by the nation's 4,100 hospices. And this number continues to grow. In King County alone, Providence Hospice of Seattle cared for 2,500 patients and their families. The increase in palliative care programs and services is bringing quality care to many people earlier in the course of their illness. However, there are certainly more people in our community who could benefit from hospice and palliative care services.

Kevorkian's actions, subsequent trial and release from prison raise the level of awareness involving care for the dying and play a role in bringing discussion about end-of-life issues to national attention. He was, and still is, intent on finding a better way to relieve suffering at the end of life.

Quality hospice and palliative care services, however, can meet the needs of patients and their families that are dealing with the challenges of life-limiting illness. Further education and outreach is still needed at the public and professional levels to ensure that all people are well informed about end-of-life care -- before it is too late.