Expert: Paula Damgaard - 10/21/2011

Question
what to make of terminally ill , on hospice relative who is  still  willing to eat a platefull of soft food, and asks for water....What are the indictions of close to end of life in this situation? Daughter claims he has a month left to live.  Thank you, Liz

Answer
There are no real "rules" that say one should have stopped eating with only a month to live. For some Hospices they will take on dementia patients even if they think they have longer than 6 months to live because they are terminal. I am not sure who came up with the one month left, many hospice nurses are pretty good at predicting length of life so if it came from them I would probably believe it. If it is just from the daughter it maybe wishful thinking. Hard to say. Many dementia patients eat up til the end so that doesn't mean anything.

If I were you I would ask how she found out this info.

Hope this helps.
Paula