Reply #8: They're not afraid of causing addiction

[LizW]

that's an excuse they use. They're afraid of malpractice suits and criminal liability. When my dad was in the final stages of colon cancer, and his pain was becoming unbearable, his oncologist became unreachable. Our repeated calls for help were not returned. We finally turned to our hometown family doctor who prescribed morphine. He taught my brother how to give the injections and he explained the dosage.

He also explained the risks of respiratory depression associated with morphine. And most importantly, he told us to keep Dad at home if we could because in the hospital where they have to record every dose they simply would not be able to give him the amount of medication required to keep him out of pain.

In a way, I can sympathize with the doctors' fears. Family members may want to do everything they can to keep their loved one comfortable, even if that means giving enough medication that the person goes into a coma and slips away. But when the moment of death comes, some people panic and aren't ready to let the person go, and they may transfer that grief and anger onto the physician and claim that he did something wrong. If it is down in writing on a hospital chart that the doctored ordered morphine, there is always a malpractice attorney who can get an expert witness to say that it was a lethal dose. It is risky, even when the doctor is only trying to be compassionate.

I have great respect for doctors who take these kinds of risks to help dying patients not to suffer.