Hospice

At this late date, about the only thing Mary Stark can protect her son from is bad news. Brandon is dying. He spends much of the day in an old La-Z-Boy recliner that his father rigged on wheels. A NASCAR quilt his mother made is tucked up under his chin. His ventilator hisses quietly. Stark's son is in "his favorite place in the world."

When her grandmother died in an impersonal hospital room after a long illness, Lena Beker vowed to help terminally ill people die in the comfort and security of familiar surroundings. In December, six years later, the former textile industry executive opened the nonprofit Roze Room hospice, named in honor of her Russian immigrant grandmother, Roza Litvak.

Ruth Kindred read with alarm that the federal government's hospice investigation had reached California, demanding that one hospice repay $2.1 million in Medicare benefits for patients who had lived longer than six months after diagnosis, the standard for "terminal." "It scared me to death," says Kindred, a 65-year-old widow suffering from heart disease, emphysema, diabetes--and metastatic lung cancer. "I thought, 'Good heavens! What if I don't die in six months?'

Ruth Kindred read with alarm that the federal government's hospice investigation had reached California, demanding that one hospice repay $2.1 million in Medicare benefits for patients who had lived longer than six months after diagnosis, the standard for "terminal." "It scared me to death," says Kindred, a 65-year-old widow suffering from heart disease, emphysema, diabetes--and metastatic lung cancer. "I thought, 'Good heavens! What if I don't die in six months?'

Isobel Oxx, who opened her Westlake Lake home to the terminally ill, lost her bid Friday to keep her house. Texas Commerce Bank foreclosed on Oxx's Leeward Circle dwelling in September and has been trying to force her off the property ever since. Oxx maintained Friday that she is still the rightful owner. But Superior Court Judge Joe D. Hadden disagreed. At that point, bank attorney John Saginaw said his client could forceably evict Oxx by the end of the week.

The federal government, extending its financial investigation of hospice programs to California, wants San Diego Hospice to refund $2.1 million to Medicare for 37 patients who outlived the normal six-month prognosis for dying people in terminal care. Government auditors looking for fraud in the Medicare program are seeking more than $80 million in repayments from a dozen hospice programs across the country for patients who lived more than six months, the standard length of the hospice benefit.

Government auditors are reviewing the nation's hospice programs because they believe too many people are living past the six months of hospice benefits federal regulations provide, officials said Friday. Washington is conducting special reviews of hospice records and calling for repayment of money spent under Medicare for patients who lived beyond the expected six months after they had enrolled for hospice care.

When Gail Shafarman's stepfather collapsed in her arms at his home, her first thought was that she didn't want him to die. At the same time, she knew it was time. She had flown from Oakland to West Palm Beach, Fla., because his health had declined dramatically and, at 85, her beloved stepfather, Joe, was in fact dying. But when the moment came and he suddenly stopped breathing, she panicked. "I was holding him, and I felt he was dead," she said. "I had seen people die before.

To pave the way for an AIDS hospice in the French Park neighborhood, the City Council has amended a zoning ordinance to allow the hospice and other "care homes" to open. The French Park Neighborhood Assn. has supported the Mercy House hospice, and association member Debbie McEwen said she doubts that the new zoning will result in a large number of care homes that could serve clients ranging from the homeless to drug addicts.

The pain never stops. It slashes into every moment of Marilyn Chamberlain's life, cutting so deep that she falls silent trying to explain it. "There are no words," she finally says in a voice beyond emotion. Nor is there cure or comfort for this kind of pain. It is the consequence of loving another person more than you love yourself. It is what happens when a mother learns that her only child may die before she's had much chance to live. That part is not unique.