Academy of Hospice Physicians' position statement on access to hospice and palative care

International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care Position Statement: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

BACKGROUND Reports about regulations and laws on Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) are becoming increasingly common in the media. Many groups have expressed opposition to euthanasia and PAS while those in favor argue that severely chronically ill and debilitated patients have a right to control the timing and manner of their death. Others argue that both PAS and euthanasia are eth...

Hospice care.

Measuring hospice care: the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization National Hospice Data Set.

Hospice has seen rapid growth in recent years, but there is a lack of consistency among hospices when it comes to compliance with standards of care. Consequently, hospices vary in performance and in services they provide. With state hospice organizations, the NHPCO developed a National Data Set (NDS) intended to understand demographics, practices, and outcomes; illustrate industry effectiveness...

Improving access to hospice care: informing the debate.

The most frequently cited policy solution for improving access to hospice care for patients and families is to expand hospice eligibility criteria under the Medicare Hospice Benefit. However, the substantial implications of such a policy change have not been fully articulated or evaluated. This paper seeks to identify and describe the implications of expanding Medicare Hospice Benefit eligibili...

American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Adopts Position of “Studied Neutrality” on Physician-Assisted Death

Though the new Statement does not detail the reasons for the change in Position, it does acknowledge that “deep disagreement persists regarding the morality of PAD. Sincere, compassionate, morally conscientious individuals stand on either side of this debate.” Of course, both of these propositions seemed sound during the period in which the AAHPM was officially opposed to PAD, so these two fact...