The following criteria have been suggested as considerations for appropriateness for palliative care:
Presence of a serious illness and one or more of the following:
- New diagnosis of life-limiting illness for symptom control, patient/family support
- Declining ability to complete activities of daily living
- Progressive metastatic cancer
- Admission from long-term care facility (nursing home or assisted living)
- Two or more hospitalizations for illness within three months
- Difficult-to-control physical or emotional symptoms
- Patient, family or physician uncertainty regarding prognosis
- Patient, family or physician uncertainty regarding appropriateness of treatment options
- Patient or family requests for futile care
- DNR order conflicts
- Conflicts or uncertainty regarding the use of non-oral feeding/hydration in cognitively impaired, seriously ill, or dying patients
- Limited social support in setting of a serious illness (e.g., homeless, no family or friends, chronic mental illness, overwhelmed family caregivers)
- Metastatic or locally advanced cancer progressing despite systemic treatments
- Brain metastases, spinal cord compression, or neoplastic meningitis
- Malignant hypercalcemia
- Progressive pleural/peritoneal or pericardial effusions
- Feeding tube is being considered for any neurological condition
- ALS or other neuromuscular disease considering mechanical ventilation
- Any recurrent brain neoplasm
- Parkinson’s disease with poor functional status or dementia
- Advanced dementia with dependence in all activities of daily living
*AmityCare does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in admission, treatment, services and or in employment.