NYT: Medical and Ethical Questions Raised on Deaths of Critically Ill Patients
Posted by Clark Venable on 7/21/2006
There's a very good article in the July 20 New York Times titled "Medical and Ethical Questions Raised on Deaths of Critically Ill Patients" that describes the ethical questions raised in the New Orleans case with some very good quotes:
"“I’m fundamentally unconvinced of the framing of the story,” said Dr. Steven Miles, a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota and an expert on the care of dying patients. “I’m not inclined to believe this is a euthanasia scenario or a physician-assisted suicide scenario.”
One reason, Dr. Miles said, is that the drugs found in the dead patients — morphine and the sedative Versed — are not all that deadly and may not even have been what killed the patients. Many patients develop tolerances to the drugs and can handle high doses, he said. Barbiturates, readily available in a hospital, would be a far more efficient way to kill somebody if that was the intent, he added.
“The selection of drugs looks to me to be more typical of the drugs selected for providing palliative care rather than killing patients,” Dr. Miles said. Palliative care is treatment given strictly to keep a patient comfortable. "
One reason, Dr. Miles said, is that the drugs found in the dead patients — morphine and the sedative Versed — are not all that deadly and may not even have been what killed the patients. Many patients develop tolerances to the drugs and can handle high doses, he said. Barbiturates, readily available in a hospital, would be a far more efficient way to kill somebody if that was the intent, he added.
“The selection of drugs looks to me to be more typical of the drugs selected for providing palliative care rather than killing patients,” Dr. Miles said. Palliative care is treatment given strictly to keep a patient comfortable. "
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