Cannot die in hospital even if you beg to.

Great question and I'll do my best to answer--hopefully others will chime in as well.
Hospice is paid for by Medicare. They are pretty much in every county of the United States. You sign up with Hospice (referred perhaps by your PCP or other provider) and then your Medicare dollars go to Hospice and they provide support. It is worth asking about nursing, chaplaincy massage, therapy, and volunteers--all of which may be provided. You have a hospice doctor. You stop some medical treatment (cancer fighting infusions, ER visits) but often stay on your usual meds (thyroid, diabetes). They should be available to talk to 24/7. Talk to one of your doctors about which local hospice they prefer. Palliative care is adjunctive. That is, it is in addition to your medical treatments. It should also be free under Medicare and available to anyone with a life limiting disease. Any oncology center should have a Palliative service. For folks under 65, you'd need to check your insurance as regards Hospice. Often they will provide care to anyone, regardless of payment. This is the best I know. Anyone else? I'd start by googling what is available locally and talk to a doctor you trust.

Also ask what treatments are allowed under either service and if you can keep your own MD or have to drop your md and switch to theirs only.

We had friends who had to switch hospices from one who wouldn’t allow the patient to keep his md to one who allowed them to keep him.

There are home hospices and ones where you go where the hospice is located as well.

I was admitted to hospital with sepsis and signed a DNR. Everyone who was involved in my hospitalization (you’ll note I didn’t write “ involved in my care” since I had very little “care”) tried to talk me into withdrawing my DNR. The nurses kept insisting I was too young to be a no code (63). The doctors tried sending me home ASAP. As soon as I was able I transferred out of my insurance and got another which enabled me to change doctors and hospital. I am a retired RN and I would have never tried to talk a patient I had just met into changing their decision about their health care!

Yikes! Was that some religious group??
Yes, our life should be our decision.

Thank you.
Good info to have ahead of time.

@kayraymat going without food and water - literally starving to death - sounds like an awful way to go!

I do have help but not a life threatening diagnosis so I don’t qualify for Hospice. I’m familiar with Hospice, have had several experiences with them for family members and they are absolutely wonderful in the services and caretaking they provide!

Just to clarify my situation, I don’t qualify for hospice. I just have so many serious illnesse, constant pain and am disabled to the point my quality of life is not acceptable. I feel like a burden, am dependent on someone else for just about everything and I had such severe pain during that hospitalization I just couldn’t take anymore. I was “saved” for a reason I suppose, as I still can contribute to others in limited ways. So I would not actively end my life, I just found the situation interesting and sure others have been through this too. It’s an ethical dilemma that is hard to resolve.
Drs are so reluctant to prescribe pain medication because of the abuse, so people with legitimate pain control needs suffer terribly. It’s a sad situation for so many living in intolerable pain! I just wanted to share my experience and get others to chime in on their thoughts….

Well, I guess often, someone who is close to death does not want to eat or drink, so their response would be different.
It just seems forcing a person to eat when they don't want
to seems cruel.

Opioids are not considered life saving so they wouldn't help you with your plight. However if you were close to dying and the opioids moved you to having no oxygen etc. You probably would have just died of natural causes. You are right in that we really have no control about the end of our lives. I also think it seems unfair