Jimmy Carter’s long stay in hospice dispels myths about end-of-life care

Jimmy Carter’s long stay in hospice dispels myths about end-of-life care 
Miami Herald; by Brian Dunleavy; 6/24/24 
Former President Jimmy Carter's being in hospice for 16 months makes him an "outlier," but it also highlights the multifaceted nature of end-of-life care and dispels myths about that care, experts told UPI. ... [Dr. Joan Teno, a former hospice provider and an expert in geriatric care said,] "President Carter is an outlier in that only a small percentage of hospice patients survive more than 15 months," she told UPI in an email. "The fact that he has lived so long on hospice is testament to his excellent medical care at home and, if I had to guess, his will to live." It also illustrates the core focus of hospice, which is typically geared toward people with an anticipated life expectancy of 6 months or less, for whom curing their underlying illness isn't an option, Teno added.
Defying the odds: More than 90% of patients who enter hospice care die within the first six months, and nearly 40% die within the first week, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Editor's Note: Too many hospice organizations and news outlets have used former President Jimmy Carter's longer-than-normal hospice stay to discount and ignore core "hospice" care. Rarely--if ever--have any of these news articles been transparent enough to mention anything whatsoever about the CMS Hospice Face-to-Face Encounter Requirement, nor anything about hospice live discharges. This article is more authentic by describing his hospice stay of 16 months as being as "outlier." Still, this headline can be misleading with its phrase "... dispels myths about end-of-life care."