Quote:
Originally Posted by polarbear
My mom passed from CHF at age 90. I can't add much to what has already been posted. Her mind was sharp, but her body failed her. Towards the end, it seemed like it was a fast downhill slide. My only complaint with her doctor was his unwillingness to use all methods at his disposal to manage her pain at the end. I mean seriously- it was obvious she was nearing the end of her life, and a long-term drug addiction just wasn't on my list of concerns at the time. I dug my heels in, and I can at least say she spent her final days in relative comfort.
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I had a patient once that the nurses and I finally were able to talk the doctor into giving her morphine for the pain every four hours. Near the end of the four hours she would start having intense pain so we tried for hours to get the doctor to make it a morphine drip but his response was "what do you want to do kill her?" Ahh no but it would be nice to have a continuous flow of meds for pain management instead of the up and down she was receiving from giving it every four hours. Thankfully there was another doctor who took over in the evening and made the morphine a drip. The patient was able to rest and have some quality time with her family before she passed away instead of being in pain and miserable. Some doctors you really have to nail their azz to the wall to get what your family member needs and I have no problem with suggesting to family members to call them every time their loved one yells, grimaces or says they are in pain. People need to remember doctors are your employees and you their employer if they aren't doing the job you need them to do then you need to fire their azz and find someone that will.