“Is hospice care best for an adult with advanced Alzheimer's?”

Hospice care is for people with a terminal diagnosis and a life expectancy of 6 months or less. One of the many signs of terminal illness in dementia is low appetite and weight loss, trouble chewing and swallowing.

It depends on the persons stated goals for care, lifelong values, preferences, etc. it is certainly true that at some point in the progression of the dementia, currently available treatments do not provide much benefit, and comfort oriented care may be best. There is also a lot of variability though in the quality of services provided by hospice. Ashok J Bharucha, MD, MA Phone: 844-647-1455 FAX: 877-511-8663 In the event of an emergency, email is not an appropriate form of communication. If you are in a crisis, please call 911 or proceed to your nearest emergency room. All pertinent practice policies are also available

Yes. Advanced Alzheimer's - when patients have no control on their bodily functions anymore - ex. bladder and bowel movement, impaired gait, impaired balance, and are totally ADL (activities of daily living) and IADL (instrumental activities of daily living) dependent are best managed by hospice.

Thanks,

HH