The heart of the hospice idea is to do away with the terrible alienation that the dying feel because of the regimentation and narrow-mindedness of the medical profession. One dying patient said to a hospice doctor, “Nobody wants to look at me.” Hospice does not look away from death; it faces the unpleasant truth with compassion and love.
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One woman who applied to a hospice for care was a 70-year-old cancer patient from a large family. She told the interviewer that she was certain her family would want to take care of her; but the interviewer thought it odd that the patient had come in alone. When he called in the patient’s husband, son, and daughter-in-law, the interviewer got a different perspective on the patient’s personality. All her life she had been a perfectionist and a complainer. . . . Not surprisingly, the family wanted nothing to do with her care.
