End-of-life care: Pain control carries risk of being called a killer - amednews.com: The growing use of hospice and palliative care is creating more opportunities for misunderstandings, experts said. New developments in end-of-life care — aggressive pain and symptom management (even to the point of unconsciousness), along with a greater willingness to withdraw advanced, life-sustaining treatments such as mechanical ventilation, dialysis, and artificial hydration and nutrition — still strike many people as wrong.
The distinction between aggressive pain control or the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments and euthanasia is still lost on many patients and families. Doctors who care care for dying patients should take into account the public’s lagging understanding of end-of-life treatments, take time to explain their intricacies and make use of ethics consultation services.
Related:
“Prevalence of Formal Accusations of Murder and Euthanasia against Physicians,”Journal of Palliative Medicine, March (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22401355/)
“Opinion 2.201 — Sedation to Unconsciousness in End-of-Life Care,” American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics, adopted June 2008 (www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-ethics/code-medical-ethics/opinion2201.page)
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