That interpretation got a nurse put on trial for murder in 1982.

Look up Commonwealth v. Capute. The hospital is incorrectly listed as Fall River, it was really Taunton. Metastatic breast cancer, terminal, with severe pain. The physician left sort of a vague instruction like you alluded to. “Titrate to comfort”, or “give as much as she needs”, something along those lines. The nurse followed the order and made the judgment call. The patient died of her disease.

A supervising nurse, small of brain but large of body, in her “wisdom”, chose to drop a dime to the county DA. Typical of politicians, looking for that glamour case to advance a political career. Easier to prosecute a nurse. Mafiosi fight back you know. It turned into a murder trial. The gutless wonder physician helped throw the nurse under the bus. The order was medically defensible, though it’s vague language might have earned the doctor a rebuke from the Board. Far better to let the nurse twist in the wind on a murder charge……

http://www.aslme.org/research/mayday/26.4/26.4a.php

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9D00EEDF1039F931A15753C1A967948260

Massachusetts law allows the accused in a murder trial to address the jury directly in closing. The nurse took advantage of it. By reports, the nurse delivered an impressive speech, and was found not guilty. As I recall, the murder charge was followed by a malpractice trial against the hospital. A large settlement they say…..

And the trial proved to be dramatic. I know I read about it in one of the national magazines, Time or Newsweek, back in the day.

It turned into a made for TV movie. Patty Duke played the nurse.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095139/