t terminally ill patients only when life expectancy is six months or less (Dawson, 1991, pp. 83-87). Thus, aside from questions of cost and appropriate care, some facility is required to provide care for the terminally ill with longer than a six-month life expectancy. In contemporary society, such individuals are most often either elderly, or are afflicted with AIDS (acquired immunity deficiency syndrome). In each instance, a hospice created within a patient's home offers both psychological comfort and physical care to the patient.
Nurses and nurses' aides are the principal non family care givers associated with the hospice in the home concept (Bonifassi, Demeleumeester, and Bez, 1993, p. 60). The restructuring of the health care delivery environment adds new dimensions to the ethical issues involved in the practice of nursing. These issues are particularly relevant to the delivery of health care services in the home hospice environment. Professional nurses and nurses' aides must become cognizant of these issues, and they must integrate their knowl
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