Depression in the terminally ill has never been examined systematically. Frequently depression has been perceived as an inevitable part of illness. The purpose of the present study was to develop an instrument (the Mood Evaluation Questionnaire) to measure depression among terminally ill patients. The MEQ and the Geriatric Depression Scale were completed by 27 hospice patients. A Modified Karnofsky score and index of somatic complaints were obtained. There was no correlation among the Modified Karnofsky, the number of somatic complaints, and the level of depression. However the MEQ and GDS were highly correlated (p < .01). For several reasons, the MEQ appears to be an effective instrument to explore the incidence of depression in the terminally ill.