Prisoners Are Expensive, Elders Aren't.

So why is it acceptable to discuss the cost of end of life care in prisons when discussing end of life care "outside" sends media and conservatives into a tizzy? Mention the savings involved in getting the dying into hospice even one week sooner and the media (and Wesley J. Smith-heads) freak about the "sanctity of life."

Yet, this article about elderly, dying prisoners raises the money question, and invites more:

Won't the state be responsible for these patients even if they're released, via Medicare and Medicaid? Why don't these government programs apply to prisoners? What would the quality of life be like for most of these (vast majority) men when they're released. How many have somewhere to go? And is terminal illness enough to make society forgive these (convicted) rapists, murders, burglars? Is bed confinement? A respirator? Chemotherapy?

HFA Online

The Hospice Foundation of America, thanks to funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has a new information center online. You can access it here: http://www.hospicefoundation.org/infocenter