Comments on: On the verge of what society finds acceptable?

By: Wink

Wink — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:24:19 +0000

I have to agree with you. Giving the morphine would be a much more acceptable way to go. I’m sure the parents had no idea that their baby was being given a paralytic agent, instead of a medication that would ease any pain the infant might experience. I would not participate in that either.

By: JMo

JMo — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:22:03 +0000

This is no different than putting a pillow over someones face. Doing it with medical equipment /medication doesnt make it any better. It just makes it appear a little “cleaner”. I guess makeing it easier for that doc and parents to swallow.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:34:27 +0000

I am speechless. And nauseated.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:21:55 +0000

That’s sick. I mean, disturbingly so. We give morphine to dying pts to help any perceived signs of pain/distress. A depressed, (or ceased), respiratory drive is an expected side effect. But, we do NOT give morphine with the INTENTION to stop the respiratory drive. Pancuronium STOPS the respiratory muscles. I think his license should be taken. That was murder, plain and simple. I am disgusted. I would adamantly refuse to adminster that medication in that situation. As the mother of a sick preemie, and an RN, it makes me cold to the core to think about what that child may have, and probabably did, experience.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 03:51:27 +0000

After being my best friend’s care giver for two years,last summer I had her transfered to a beautiful new hospice here in the Denver area. I experienced exactly the conflict you just described. I cried buckets for a month because I thought that I had helped the hospice nurses kill her. Recently I read an article that suggested that the morphine doesn’t really kill them, it calms the dyspnea and eases the pain. I totally agree with you on this. I wish he had stuck to the standard of palliative care.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:56:40 +0000

“What is very telling is that the mothers and fathers of babies X and Y fully supported the doctor’s actions and were grateful to him”. The whistle-blower, significantly, seems to have been the nursing staff.”

Very telling, indeed. I’m guessing the parents were grateful because they didn’t actually understand what was going on.

This is a very disturbing to me. I can’t wrap my mind around it either. I just can’t conceive that actively dying while you are paralyzed is a “peace and comfortable” way to go.