To qualify for hospice, a stroke patient must have a terminal prognosis as evidenced by:
- Palliative Performance Scale 40 or less
Inability to maintain hydration and caloric intake with one of the following:
- Weight loss of 10% of body weight during previous six months
- Weight loss of 7.5% of body weight during previous three months
- Serum albumin 2.5 gm/dl
- Current history of pulmonary aspiration without effective response to speech language pathology interventions
- Calorie counts documenting inadequate caloric/fluid intake
Any three of the following on day three of coma
- Abnormal brainstem response
- Absent verbal response
- Absent withdrawal response to pain
- Serum creatinine level level > 1.5 mg/dl