Comfort measures vs euthanasia

July 3, 2007

Sometimes there’s a fine line.

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{ 2 comments }

1 Anonymous July 3, 2007 at 4:43 pm: Is it so hard to see weeks ahead that the extraordinary measures described were futile? The father could have received strong palliative care much earlier, it seems to me, and likely would have died peacefully without the weeks of torture for the family. This is not a criticism of the family and doctors decisions. But it does seem that the medical profession and mandates laid on it box them into a corner that could be avoided.
2 cat13 July 3, 2007 at 4:52 pm: This article is almost exactly my Dad’s story. The drug was morphine. One difference was that they kept turning the vent on and off until he had no spontaneous breath and no pulse. Forever grateful to the doctors who were brave enough to take those actions.

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