[MD Expat in PA]

I understand the whole concept, but after spending time there with a relative and noticing more than a dozen deaths in a week, I felt like I was in a death mill. Some people who were up the day before, were gone the next. A father was saying about his teen daughter, she had six months, but died 10 days after going to hospice..he was in shock. Well, the whole thing freaked me out.

As hospice care is for the terminally ill, I’m not sure why you were so shocked that there were deaths. As far as some people “who were up the day before, were gone the next” sometimes that’s how death works and that part of the process is not fully understood but is often observed. It’s not all that unusual for a terminally ill person to experience a rebound and appear to get better and then very suddenly take a turn for the worse and die very suddenly.

As far as the dad who thought is daughter had six months; sometimes doctors, being themselves human, will not always be 100% truthful about a patient’s prospects. Right or wrong, sometimes doctors have a difficult time dealing with death themselves and will give patients and their families the most optimistic prognosis either because they themselves don’t want to give up hope or think that being 100% honest would be counter-productive. It is also possible that the initial prognosis of six months was reasonable but that the child suffered an unforeseen complication.

[caww]

It’s not all that unusual for a terminally ill person to experience a rebound and appear to get better and then very suddenly take a turn for the worse and die very suddenly

Yep..that's exactly what my mom did...I was shocked when I got there to visit and she was chit-chatting and laughing with family members..sitting up in bed no less...but the nurse explained to me, when I inquired about this happening, that it is very common.

To me it just seemd like God was giving the family a last 'family moment' before she left..and she did die two days later.