The rest of the article is contained in the link below. I saw this today on the MSNBC homepage.
Hospice may no longer mean halting treatment
Law may let Medicare patients have end-of-life care plus still fight illness
By Jordan Rau
updated 4:49 p.m. ET, Fri., May 14, 2010
After an excruciating bout of chemotherapy, Linda Meisenhelder gave up fighting colon cancer and last fall entered end-of-life hospice care. She was willing to quit curative treatments — a requirement for Medicare to pay for hospice — but says no one else in her cancer support group seemed ready to take that step.
"They were all very clear in saying that they would do chemo again in a heartbeat," says Meisenhelder, who lives in Harleysville, Pa. "Hospice has a lot to offer but it can be scary when they hear what they have to give up."
This dilemma — that you must give up aggressive treatment to get end-of-life counseling and care — is a major reason many people resist entering hospice, sometimes until just days before they die.
But the new health law could lead to a major change in Medicare policy that allows patients to get treatment and hospice care simultaneously.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37138739/ns ... alth_care/