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Hospice and End of Life Care in Neurologic Disease

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Neuropalliative Care

Abstract

As people progress through neurologic disease, it is important for their clinicians, including their neurologists, to access appropriate and available support for adjustment to different stages of disease. When people with neurologic disease appear to have a prognosis measured in months rather than years, they are eligible for additional support in the home from hospice organizations. The following chapter discusses the origin of hospice, benefit structure, current eligibility guidelines, and potential roles of the neurologist at the end of life. The discussion centers on the hospice benefit as it is defined by the Medicare system in the United States, with a brief review of how it contrasts with other healthcare systems. Finally, the chapter includes an approach to symptom management at the end of life and to recognizing signs of active dying.

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Change history

  • 07 February 2019

    Chapter 16: Page page 224, the sentence in paragraph “Two physicians, usually the attending or referring physician…” has been updated as below:

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Daly, F.N., Lugassy, M.M. (2019). Hospice and End of Life Care in Neurologic Disease. In: Creutzfeldt, C., Kluger, B., Holloway, R. (eds) Neuropalliative Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93215-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93215-6_16

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