Terminal Sedation Fails

Having an opinion is my right.
Expressing it on the job is not.
Free will and Doctor's orders supercede my right to say what is on my mind.

I had the unpleasant task of visiting a home where sedation was reaching the terminal stage. It is a long very long death process. Perhaps this person will not die handily in weeks or months, but they are indeed on that short road.
The client and the family are pleasant. The situation is not.

I left the home wondering why the Nurses notes insisted he was dying imminently.
That is not what I saw.
The next visit I had a call to warn me like a head's up that my client was at death's door.
They are??? I asked incredulously.
What had happened there to push the client from stable decline to tenuous grasp on life? What indeed.

I entered and was rather surprised to see how pale and hot the client was.
Morphine tends to do that in high dosages.
I am not the Doctor. What do I know?

I took a good look at the client's skin and nails... everything was the same as the prior visit. Just the sedation was increased dramatically. Naturally there had been no fluid intake nor food for 2 days. Still, the client looked medicated beyond an appropriate level but not at death's door unless dehydration and starvation opened it and pushed from behind.

Leaving the home I was struggling with my thoughts.
These are competant intelligent people with educated family members.
It is not my call.

I entered the home again this week.
The family looked happier. The client was awake and aware and eating an egg.
"We cut out the extra medications. We decided it was going to result in a tragedy."

Thank God.
Thank God.
Thank GOD!!!!

Perhaps the client has a year, perhaps a month...
but at least the client will go when God calls.
And not before.


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