Having worked in cancer medicine for over 25 years I have witnessed
tremendous improvements in palliative care and symptom control, and yet
there are still some patients whose death is not the idealised pain-free
passing that was hoped for.
A few patients have symptoms that are never effectively controlled
despite all the best efforts of the caring health professionals looking
after them. As a consequence dozens of patient have asked me if I could
'put them to sleep' and a similar number of relatives have made the same
request.
Surely there is now a role for carefully controlled physician
assisted death; in this era of patient choice it is surely the most
important one that a patient could make rather than the spurious ones
currently on offer?
Rapid Response:
Palliative care is effective for most but not all
Having worked in cancer medicine for over 25 years I have witnessed
tremendous improvements in palliative care and symptom control, and yet
there are still some patients whose death is not the idealised pain-free
passing that was hoped for.
A few patients have symptoms that are never effectively controlled
despite all the best efforts of the caring health professionals looking
after them. As a consequence dozens of patient have asked me if I could
'put them to sleep' and a similar number of relatives have made the same
request.
Surely there is now a role for carefully controlled physician
assisted death; in this era of patient choice it is surely the most
important one that a patient could make rather than the spurious ones
currently on offer?
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests