Broaden Hospice to Include Everyone Who Nears Death

   I consider on the benefits of hospice again tonight. I consider how I would not want to change someone else's diaper, and would welcome a hospice worker coming and doing it for me. I consider that there are many time the hospice workers provide such services. I think of the last case of hospice I have known, of how the lady was not getting her diapers changed in a timely fashion at the medical facility, and of how once she signed on with hospice, that changed.
   And, I wonder. I wonder what if we were to keep hospice. (And, we will, for it almost seems I am the only person on the planet with reservations about the program.) If we are to keep it, could we do just one thing?
   Get rid of the ban on curative care. No longer require patients to renounce curative treatment. Instead, at each juncture, let them choose anew whether they want treatment. Let treatment always remain an option.
   Actually, it might be hospice is already going that direction. I don't know if it is true, but one hospice care-giver told me that there are different hospice programs, and sometimes a patient can continue to receive life-saving treatments.
   That would be wonderful.
   Instead of hospice being only for those who choose to let go of life, it would broaden to include all those who are approaching death. It would comfort and care for everyone. It would include those not ready to accept death as well as those not wanting to continue their lives.