Dr. Jigar Virenbhai Joshi MD
Internist
600 Potter Road Des Plains IL, 60016About
Dr. Jigar Joshi is a board certified hospice and palliative medicine physician with primary specialty of internal medicine practicing in Chicago, IL. Dr. Joshi specializes in the medical treatment of adults who have terminal illness(s) from pain and other symptom management, to planning and implementing goals of care for individual health given medical condition, providing compassionate end of life care and caring for families after the loved one has made their final journey.
Education and Training
Seth GS Medical College, Mumbai, India MBBS 2007
Internal Medicine Residency MD 2014
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI MD 2015
Board Certification
American Board of Internal Medicine
Hospice and Palliative Care (Internal Medicine)
Provider Details
Dr. Jigar Virenbhai Joshi MD's Expert Contributions
What is end of life care?
End of life care is usually offered to people with a terminal health condition which is not curable and/or continues to worsen in spite of optimizing the management plan. Recommend speaking to your primary care physician or palliative care physician to resolve your questions with the specifics of your father's case. READ MORE
Under what circumstances does the hospital turn off the ventilator for a patient?
In the light of medical condition of your father, if it is determined that the scope of meaningful recovery may be less likely to be achieved, then hospital teams may recommend you to consider removal of life-sustaining treatments in order to focus on comfort care and allowing the natural process. Please share your concerns with the hospital team. READ MORE
How can a palliative care specialist help my father suffering from cancer?
Palliative care would focus on providing care to improve symptoms for your father. They will also provide support to your father and caregivers to guide all through the progression of disease. They will also be able to provide smooth transition to hospice services. Recommend to reach out to primary care physician to obtain a palliative care consult. READ MORE
My father is 78 years old and has been detected with colon cancer. Given his age, we are not sure what's next.
It is a good idea to receive a second, maybe third opinion. At the same time, "to get as many second opinions as possible" may lead to a waste of valuable limited time. Treating the cancer or not treating the cancer needs to be decided based on risks and benefits of the treatment. Recommend to plan further course based on current quality of your father's life. For further guidance, reach out to his primary doctor and maybe consider a palliative care consult. READ MORE
Are hospice patients still being treated during covid-19?
If I understand your question correctly, you mean to ask, "Are hospice services still available?" "Due to COVID-19, is there any changes with how Hospices provide care to their patients?" I work at an organization that is largest independent hospice provider in the country, operating in over 14 states. We have a dedicated COVID-19 task force that works day and night to ensure that patients and families still come first. We provide ongoing education to our staff on regular bases to keep them updated about national and regional protocol changes around COVID-19. To overcome visitation restrictions, we have started utilizing technology to our advantage. currently we provide patient evaluation using video conference or telephonic calls. We work with the teams at Nursing homes, Assisted living facilities, senior living facilities, and hospitals to collaborate providing appropriate care planning. There are many more measures that we are taking on day by day bases and even case by case bases to ensure we are doing our best today and even better tomorrow. READ MORE
Is hospice the right thing to do?
The question is, what makes him want to be in the hospital room? The primary question we need to ask him is what is most important to him. What is that provides meaning to his life? Are there any fears related to his health decline or even death. There are many misconceptions about hospice services. It is observed that those who have utilized hospice services have more than likely expressed wish to have enrolled in the hospice services earlier than they did. Please request for at least a palliative care consult. If palliative consultation is not available for any reasons, then most hospice organizations do provide information sessions to walk you through the benefits of hospice services. I hope this is helpful. READ MORE
How long are patients usually in hospice care?
Per CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services): "An individual is considered to be terminally ill if the medical prognosis is that the individual’s life expectancy is 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course." "Predicting of life expectancy is not always exact. The fact that a beneficiary lives longer than expected in itself is not cause to terminate benefits." Other insurances usually follow CMS guidelines for determining eligibility for hospice. There is no finite limitation to duration of hospice services. In the beginning, 2 physicians and, after enrolling to hospice, 1 physician needs to certify for the eligibility of hospice services on regular bases. There are guidelines and clinical criteria to determine eligibility. They are reviewed in relation to patients health condition/decline with the help of an interdisciplinary team. If the patient continues to meet the criteria, they would continue to receive hospice services. If the patient's health does get better than originally anticipated, they are discharged (or graduated) out of hospice. Hope this is helpful. READ MORE
Is palliative care available to someone with dementia?
Palliative care consult is available for people suffering with any disease that is considered terminal. Dementia is also a terminal disease. Depending upon the progression and stage of dementia, your mother may qualify for hospice or palliative care. As a concept, both are the same. However, provision of services is more than likely going to be significantly different. With hospice, usually being more comprehensive with multiple team members visiting multiple times a week vs. palliative care could be 1 provider visitation every few weeks to months. I would recommend reaching out to her primary care physician to get further guidance and get a referral to palliative care if available. If palliative care is not available, request a hospice referral as they may be able to guide you with available resources. Hope this is helpful. READ MORE
If someone is on life support, are they in hospice?
Being on life support is not the same as hospice. Hospice is a service for people who are suffering from terminal health conditions with a life expectancy of fewer than 6 months if the disease process runs its usual course. It is unfortunate that your mother's friend has to go through so much at the age of 50. In case family believes that this is not the quality of life that patient would want to live. Per medical teams assessment if there is no real scope of significant improvement. Then it may be a reasonable options to consider to forgo life sustaining treatment so as to not to further prolong her suffering. At that time hospice could be a great service to consider. READ MORE
Is palliative care temporary?
Palliative care is focused around using the principles of medical science to provide comfort care to patients/families with the help of an interdisciplinary team. Depending upon the prognosis, he may be offered palliative care or hospice services. Usually, as a disease progresses, the help required increases. Hospice services may be a reasonable option to consider when doctors believe life expectancy is less than 6 months if the disease runs its usual course. Hospice services don't stop at the death of the patient, and a hospice bereavement team can continue to support the family who is grieving their losses. Bereavement team can follow up for up to 13 months after the death of the patient based on the need. READ MORE
Can anesthesia be used to relieve the pain of a hospice patient?
If I understand your question correctly, you are considering palliative sedation for your mother. Palliative sedation is usually the ultimate measure in case all other modalities for symptom management were not able to effectively control the symptoms. Please discuss your concerns with the provider. There are many lines of pain medications and procedures (very selective patients) available out there. Hope this helps. READ MORE
How long does someone typically live in hospice?
Per CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) "An individual is considered to be terminally ill if the medical prognosis is that the individual’s life expectancy is 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course." "Predicting of life expectancy is not always exact. The fact that a beneficiary lives longer than expected in itself is not cause to terminate benefits." Other insurances usually follow CMS guidelines for determining eligibility for hospice. There is no finite limitation to duration of hospice services. In the beginning 2 physicians and after enrolling to hospice 1 physician needs to certify for the eligibility of hospice services on regular bases. There are guidelines and clinical criteria to determine eligibility. They are reviewed in relation to patients health condition/decline with help of interdisciplinary team. If patient continues to meet the criteria they would continue to receive hospice services. If patient's health does better than originally anticipated they are discharged (or graduated) out of hospice. hope this is helpful. in case of further questions please feel free to ask. READ MORE
Is the quality of care high in hospice and palliative care centers?
You may want to ask and look for available reviews about the organizations you are planning to work with. Additionally you may also want to know what complexity of a patient's that a particular organization is working with. As at times the currently available satisfaction scores may not be able to appropriately judge the quality of care. if some organization chooses to work with high complexity patient care measures are more than likely to receive poor scores compared to organizations taking on simpler complexity of patients. Again, word of mouth can be useful more than certain online surveys. So please ask around within your family or friends or your physician that you trust. Staff to patient ratio is definitely an important factor. At the same time it may also be important to know how many disciplines would be involved on a regular bases. READ MORE
What are the qualifications for hospice care?
Per CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) "An individual is considered to be terminally ill if the medical prognosis is that the individual’s life expectancy is 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course." "Predicting of life expectancy is not always exact. The fact that a beneficiary lives longer than expected in itself is not cause to terminate benefits." other insurances usually follow CMS guidelines for determining eligibility for hospice. There is no finite limitation to duration of hospice services. In the beginning 2 physicians and after enrolling to hospice 1 physician needs to certify for the eligibility of hospice services on regular bases. There are guidelines and clinical criteria to determine eligibility. They are reviewed in relation to patients health condition/decline with help of interdisciplinary team. If patient continues to meet the criteria they would continue to receive hospice services. If patient's health does better than originally anticipated they are discharged (or graduated) out of hospice. it may be a good idea to request for palliative care consult and have family meeting. READ MORE
How much anesthesia is given to hospice patients?
Anesthesia is usually associated with procedures or surgeries. READ MORE
How long does general anesthesia affect the body?
It depends upon how the general anesthesia was achieved. For further details, you may want to consult anesthesiologist. READ MORE
What should I know about palliative care?
Palliative care is designed around managing your symptoms. Hospice care is a small subset of palliative care that is provided when life expectancy is about 6 months or less if the disease runs its usual course. You may need to know: 1. The stage your disease process 2. How this disease process is affecting your day to day physical functioning 3. How this disease process is affecting your cognitive functioning 4. How often you are utilizing ED and hospital visits in relation to the disease process that you are suffering in last few months or a year. 5. How effective is current management plan. 6. What resources are available where you live What is the goal of your health care planning? With an understanding that the disease process may not be curable. For further details, please reach out to your primary care to receive more resources. Hope this is helpful. READ MORE
How long does local anesthetic last for toe surgery?
Usually the effects would start wearing off within a couple of hours. Depending upon the age group and individual metabolism, could have significant variations. READ MORE
What diseases can be treated with palliative care?
Any disease process that is not curable can be considered terminal. Palliative care is specialty designed to achieve patient comfort. You may want to reach out to her primary physician to see if she can receive a consult for palliative care or if she qualifies for hospice. READ MORE
Should we have a health aid for my mom?
These are very common concerns that we hear from our patients and families. If you worried about her safety while her being alone in the house, it may be a reasonable option to have someone stay with her. For further details, you may want to reach out to her primary care to obtain what additional resources are available where she lives. READ MORE
Expert Publications
Data provided by the National Library of Medicine- Comparison of four nonculture diagnostic tests for Chlamydia trachomatis infection.
- Study of estrogen activity in 1300 menopausal women.
- Clinical, endocrine and metabolic studies in the kindred of familial partial lipodystrophy--a syndrome of insulin resistance.
- Synthesis, characterization, and SANS studies of novel alkanediyl-alpha,omega-bis(hydroxyethylmethylhexadecylammonium bromide) cationic gemini surfactants.
- Cytological association of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and sexually transmitted diseases.
- Ultrasonographically observed preterm grade III placenta and perinatal outcome.
- Serum IL-6 and micrometry of pap smears in women with cervical low-grade intraepithelial lesions.
- Prevalence of premenstrual symptoms: Preliminary analysis and brief review of management strategies.
- Chemopreventive potential and safety profile of a Curcuma longa extract in women with cervical low-grade squamous intraepithelial neoplasia.
- Serum progesterone and norethisterone levels following injection of norethisterone enanthate in different sites and doses.
- Antacid does not reduce the bioavailability of oral contraceptive steroids in women.
- ICMR task force study on hormonal contraception. Transfer of levonorgestrel (LNG) administered through different drug delivery systems from the maternal circulation into the newborn infant's circulation via breast milk.
- Vaginal parasitosis. An unusual finding in routine cervical smears.
- Actinomyces in cervical smears of women using intrauterine contraceptive devices.
- Phase I comparative clinical trial with subdermal implants--bioabsorbable levonorgestrel or norethisterone pellet fused with cholesterol.
Areas of expertise and specialization
Faculty Titles & Positions
- Associate Medical Director Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care 2015 - 2017
Professional Memberships
- American Medical Association
- American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
Areas of research
symptom management and End of life careDr. Jigar Virenbhai Joshi MD's Practice location
Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care
600 Potter Road -Des Plains, IL 60016Get Direction
Practice At 1500 South California Avenue
1500 South California Avenue -Chicago, IL 60608Get Direction
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