http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/07/comfort-measures-vs-euthanasia.html Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/07/comfort-measures-vs-euthanasia.html#comment-77070 cat13 Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:52:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/07/comfort-measures-vs-euthanasia.html#comment-77070 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. 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.

]]> http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/07/comfort-measures-vs-euthanasia.html#comment-77068 Anonymous Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:43:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/07/comfort-measures-vs-euthanasia.html#comment-77068 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. 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.

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