American Hospice Foundation, Washington DC, USA

People often assume that hospice is only for end-stage cancer patients.

In reality, hospice care is appropriate for people at the end-stage of a wide range of health conditions and illnesses.

For example, hospices also specializes in caring for terminal patients with:

• heart failure,
• chronic lung problems,
• kidney disease,
• stroke,
• AIDS,
• neurological conditions like Parkinson's disease,
• the last stages of Alzheimer's and similar conditions,
• and other serious, terminal illnesses.

You can also look at our information about when patients with a terminal illness and their families should consider hospice care.