EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a two-part series. The first article appears toward the bottom of this home page.
PORT ANGELES – Hospital, hospice or home.
These are the choices for a person who is approaching a natural death about where his or her life should end.
Picking one, of course, aren’t simple.
It isn’t even up to the patient alone, say Drs. Scott Kennedy and Roger Oakes, chief medical officer and chief of staff, respectively, at Olympic Medical Center.
The patient, his or her doctor, other caregivers and family members all have their say.
“It’s not the hospital that orders hospice for the patient,” Kennedy said.
“The hospital is going to be responsive to its medial staff. The medical staff is going to be responsible to the patient.”
The process “often takes days,” he added.
The choice, said Kennedy, often is between lingering and leaving, between pain and cessation of pain.
Sometimes a person will not request what OMC calls “comfort care” until a far-away loved one can come home, he said.
