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questions about hospice administering morphine to my dying father

my father was in hospice and yes his health was failing and he was dying  on his nursing home bed but my questiion is , it is strange that right when the hospice nurse came to give my dad his morphine shot about two minutes later he died, now you ask, did i want to see him continue to die,? no and if he was suffering i dont know, the night before he was fine, granted his health was getting worse and worse, the fine line these days is would you want to see him suffer any longer or end his misery , well most would think it is ok to assist a person to not suffer, i believe i dont have nor does anyone have that power to take or assist one in his deathl. ONLY God does. so my question is , in hospice, is this what they do? do they assist medically by giving overdose of morphine to patients they think are dying anyway? I am so mad that i just recieved his prescription drug statement and i see that the facility ordered morphone sul sol 20 mgs /MI qty 15 , a five day supply filled 15  dont know if that is what they gave him at once because all i know is that the night before he was fine and that morning i was there with him when they called me to come that he was unresponsive and when i opened his eyes he was not seeing, he was strugling to breathe but he heard me tell him i loved him he told me love back and also to my mom, so what i am getting at is all morning long nothing was administered to him but after about an hour of him struggling to breath the hospice doctor said we are going to give him morphine, right away i thought " why"  the only logical reasoning i dont beleive in was so they can let him go easily but my belief is NOONE HAS THAT RIGHT TO ASSIST MEDICALLY OR OTHERWISE , ONLY GOD CAN STOP SOMEONES HEART  TO TAKE THEM . THEN AGAIN I AM THINKING LOGICALLY HE WAS ALREADY DYING, AND AS MUCH AS I DONT WANT THIS, I DIDNT WANT TO SEE HIM STRUGGLE ANY LONGER, BUT EITHER WAY I DIDNT KNOW IF HE WAS DYING NATURALLY BUT I TRUELY BELIEVE THAT GOD SAW WHAT WAS GOING ON AND EVEN THOUGH HE WAS READY TO TAKE HIM, THE MORPHINE JUST ACCELLERATED THE EASING OUT OF THIS LIFE FOR HIM ACCORDING TO THE DOCTORS. I AM SO SAD, BUT I ALSO DIDINT WANT HIM TO SUFFER ANY LONGER, HE WAS STRUGGLING TO BREATHE FOR TWO HOURS, BUT I KNOW THAT GOD ALLOWED HIM TO TELL US HE LOVED US ONE LAST TIME, AND HE DID, EVEN THOUGH THE HOSPICE DOCTOR SAID IT WAS MEDICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DO SO, WELL THAT IS THE POWER OF GOD WE THAT BELIEVE KNOW EXISTS AND OTHERS DONT, AT LEAST HE TOLD US HE LOVED US BEFORE HE TOOK HIS LAST BREATH... WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS READING THIS, WAS THAT AN ASSISTED DEATH OF SOME TYPE ON THE HOSPICE DECISION,  I SAW THAT THE LEATHEL DOSE IS SIXTY MGS BUT HE WAS FRAIL AND WEAK AND ABOUT 150 POUNDS. WOULD THAT OF PUT HIM DOWN WITHIN A MINUTE AS I SAW IT DID RIGHT AFTER THEY GAVE IT TO HIM?  HE IS GONE NOW AND IT WAS HIS TIME, I KNOW THAT GOD OPENED HIS ARMS AND TOOK HIM KNOWING WHAT WAS GONIG ON AND HE DIDNT WANT HIM TO SUFFER ANY LONGER, AND HE ALLOWED HIM TO TELL US HE LOVED US.... WE ALL HEARD IT...
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Palliative care is an delicate approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with terminal illness. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if one should take an aggressive approach (i.e., giving as many treatments as possible even if futile) vs. just trying to make the patient comfortable toward the end (i.e., giving more pain meds). In an ideal situation, the patient's wishes should be followed. If the patient is unable to communicate his/her wishes, then a discussion should be had with health care proxy/family members to reach a consensus on how to proceed.
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Avatar universal
Ok. I’m going to answer this as well as I can with what I know both from my experience with my mother and also from the standpoint that I agree with you that it is immoral to knowingly take a life especially in a medical facility where they are sworn to do no harm. My mother was dying of PSP which is a degenerative disease similar to ALS in its effect on the human body and mind. At the end she was being given Morphine to ease her suffering. Whether it hastened or prolonged her life is a matter of debate we cannot know the answer to. However nothing would have altered the fatality of the disease and the timeline of either course of action was undoubtedly very similar. From Genesis 1:29  “Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” We know that God had intended food to mean more than the traditional meaning of something you eat. Jesus turns water to wine. Clearly wine is not consumed for food but rather it’s curative and medicinal properties. So since Morphine is actually a naturally occurring, and in fact the most prevalent alkaloid from the opium poppy, it was given directly by God to man as “food” for our health to be used for its obvious medicinal qualities. I do not believe God would intend for us to knowingly stand by while we watch as our fellow man or woman suffer as they die knowing we could ease that passing to allow those moments to be spent on something other than suffering. The morphine did not take my mothers life. It made her last hours as painless as possible so that she could look into our eyes and listen to our voices and feel our love as she passed into His hands. I can say with a fair belief that He did the same for your father and for you. I hope this helps.
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1081992 tn?1389903637
COMMUNITY LEADER
That's a very sad story but it happens all the time in hospices. As far as I know, they increase the dosage day by day until they hit the dose that is lethal for that particular patient. It's like an open secret.

This is presumably done with the agreement of the patient or someone who has the power to sign for it. There are also some claims that it is sometimes done involuntarily.

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