Hospice was giving morphine to my Grandmother, “to help her breathing.” Even though it does the opposite. It was illegal as well, because that is not a valid reason to precribe it.
I believe the same thing happened to my Dad. I saw him in the hospital the night before he died, and while somewhat out of it, he could talk and sit up. The next day when the morphine drip started he first went into a coma, then hours later started gasping for air (his neck and chest would lift off the bed as if he was suffocating)
Don't sweat it. If things continue as they seem to be Big Brother will make that choice for you. Welcome to The Brave New World.
We were actually given the morphine in drops to give my stepfather. He refused them even though he couldn’t talk. He waved the bottle away. I wonder how many people who aren’t being cared for by family would do the same thing if they had the choice?
Although I don’t see anything wrong with the ‘cocktail’ if that’s what you want.
Same thing happened to my Uncle, I suspect ...
Got a call from my Aunt on a Saturday saying that the end was near. Drove my Mom 3 hours from MD to Jersey on Sunday. Was shocked when we saw him - totally out of it with a morphine drip. Spent about 4 hours with him and the family at his side, the nurse came in and adjusted the drip like three times. Then had to drive back to MD.
By the time I got my Mom to her house, we got a call from my Aunt that he was gone ...
I never questioned my Aunt about it - and never will. But still, it haunts me ...
So, you would rather see your Uncle writhing in pain and then dying then seeing him sedated and then dying? I’m confused.
If he was jumping around like the article mentions, how close to death was he, exactly?
This book is really good:
How we Die by Dr Nuland
http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Die-Reflections-Chapter/dp/0679742441
All this is a very touchy subject, and 2 people will give you 4 opinions. I would hate to be in the profession and be exposed to these tough decisions day in and day out. No matter what you do, someone will invariably disagree with you and be right somehow.
God bless the people who endure this for us.
This is a response for several posters here.
Last year, my dad entered hospice in the last stages of terminal congestive heart failure with only a few days left to live, an extremely common way to die these days. What happens is that a person’s lungs slowly fill with fluid and they slowly drown. This can take hours to days and is a truly horrible and excruciating way to die, and there is nothing that can prevent this from happening.
As this process intensifies, a liquid opiate and a benzodiazepine like lorazepam (Ativan) is given orally with an eye dropper in increasing doses. Frequently Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) is also administered as the opiates often cause itching.
Eventually the doses are high enough that the dying person is essentially in a drug-induced coma, but it is not the drugs that kill the person. It is the lungs filling up and drowning the person that kills them. The drugs do not hasten this happening, they simply render the dying person from being able to feel it.
These drugs are a mercy for both the dying person and the ones who love them. My dad’s family (me included) attended by dad’s death, and watched him carefully the whole time for signs of discomfort, and the hospice staff increased the dosage each time at our request whenever we detected signs of discomfort. It took my dad fully 48 hours to die after he became completely unconscious, so his suffering would have been unimaginable if he had been conscious.
The staff at this hospice were true angels of mercy.
I agree that the patient needs to make their wishes clear *before* the end comes.
But I disagree with so many here that this is a cruel practice.
My grandfather died of pancreatic cancer about 7 years ago.
He was in total *agony*, yet was denied pain medicine because “he might become addicted” and “it could be bad for him”.
For the love of all that’s holy - the man was terminal. He was in his mid-80’s and there was absolutely NO hope of him pulling through. Yet he had to suffer in screaming pain for *WEEKS*.
I’ve let my family know my wishes. If I’m terminal and in pain - drug me to the moon and beyond. If the pain meds hasten my death - don’t sweat it.
I will NOT go out like grandpa did.
Heck, I wouldn’t let my *dog* suffer like my grandpa did.
I agree with you that people need to make their wishes known and document them long before there is need for it.
You are incorrect to associate a dosage of morphine with induced death. Morphine is an appropriate medical choice for those in sever pain. You do not say what the underlying diseases were that your father and uncle suffered from. To blame pain killers just says that you ae still angry at their deaths and have not come to terms with the mortality of us all. Often family members want to blame the medical personal or the mdeicine given when that is not the cause.
but hospice is "end of life"......morphine is used to quiet respirations and keep the patient relaxed and pain free...death might occur but that afterall is the idea of a hospice...to make your death more peaceful...( not in my mom's case at all)
really, what did you expect?....
if I had more say in it, I would have encouraged my mother to go at least a round of chemo or radiation....to lie there for 3 months knowing you're dying slowly and being helpless without hope is a horrible situation....."hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing"
They did this to my Mother in law! THEY KILLED HER!
My inlaws were well off but had the Medicare.
Medicare sent Hospice. Hospice right away
ordered the bag of morphine, “for later”.
MIL was awake, lively, eating and a week later dead.
Once you sign the paper for “No measures to revive”
you’re done. Once given the morphine, you cannot ask for
food or water and you’ll not be given any.
She was dehydrated to death.
“
This is an issue that needs debated, and patients needs to make their
wishes clear to their families BEFORE they become so ill they can’t
make their own choices. It happens all the time, and it’s wrong.
“
Absolutely.
And families should make sure of having proper legal documents to
back them up YEARS before a loved one might be slipping into the
“end stage”.
The best time is now. To draw up documents even for family members
that might simply be rendered brain dead from the unforseeable
(but not impossible) event like a traffic accident.