BMJ 2001;323:1088 ( 10 November )

News roundup

New law requires doctors to learn care of the dying

Fred Charatan Florida

California’s governor, Gray Davis, last month signed the first law in the United States requiring doctors to take courses in pain management and in care of people at the end of life. The measure was drafted by assembly woman Dion Aroner, a Berkeley Democrat.

The new law resulted from the case of William Bergman, an 85 year old man admitted in February 1998 to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, northern California. Mr Bergman was an inpatient for five days, with probable advanced lung cancer and bone fractures. Dr Wing Chin, an internist, gave him too little medication, despite the fact that nurses rated his pain as being between 7 and 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst pain imaginable.

Mr Bergman was still in agony when he was sent home. His family consulted another doctor, who prescribed . . . [Full text of this article]


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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Education, education, education - the only way forward
William Notcutt
bmj.com, 10 Nov 2001 [Full text]
Dignity for the dying
Bhaskar Saha
bmj.com, 11 Nov 2001 [Full text]
Abandonment by doctor.
Sylvia Nightingale
bmj.com, 16 Nov 2001 [Full text]
Care of the dying and the NHS
Elisabeth Bjorndal
bmj.com, 22 Nov 2001 [Full text]
Pain Education in Medical and Nursing Schools
Kathryn E. Lasch
bmj.com, 5 Jan 2002 [Full text]
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