Symptoms of Cancer May Include Fatigue, Unexplained Weight Loss, Fever and Foreclosure

by Bridget BlitzAs a palliative care social worker, I provide home visits to patients and families to explore how they are coping with complex medical issues, which resources they need, how we might add services that could reduce caregiver strain, and talk to them about their goals of care and about their wishes for the life they have left. Startling to me, within these discussions, is the depth of fear and anxiety about finances that leave these individuals struck with more than a horrible illness. They now have to absorb the real possibility of being without a permanent home in addition to adapting to new treatments, symptoms, sudden unemployment, struggling to perform daily tasks and considering eventual death.Moving through cancer treatment may mean reducing work hours with resultant smaller paychecks; taking time off from employment for an unpaid leave or quitting work; paying for high-cost cancer medications; being charged for hospital and physician visit copayments, or losing health insurance. All these factors may result in a dramatic reduction in income and in the ability to continue paying for basic needs such as rent, mortgage, food and other bills.Some patients we meet have to surrender jobs when they are diagnosed with cancer, leaving them with no income and a precarious living situation. Applying for Social Security Disability often takes months and requires precious energy that many of those with cancer do not have. Other benefits such as food stamps (SNAP), Me...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: bankruptcy financial social work social worker Source Type: blogs