Is hospice care only for the dying?

Hospice care is for people who are expected to live six months or less, but not everyone who receives hospice care dies within six months. Patients who live beyond six months can keep receiving care as long as doctors re-establish that the patients are terminally sick.

Hospice care takes place where a patient lives, which could be his home, a nursing home or a health care facility. The focus of such care is not curative. Rather, it is palliative to help with pain management as well as mental and emotional health. Medical staff focus on affording patients the most dignity possible.