Hi
Did anyone see horizon the other week.
It was the one with 3 people who had decided they would prefer to die at home, rather than in a hospital.
It was really sad & 2 of the 3 died.
The people on the prog said they were receiving pallietive care. This was arranged to ensure they wouldnt suffer from pain & they would basicallu be made comfortable towards the end.
A man who used to be involved with building work had asbestosis & knew he was close to dying. His wife was looking after him & naturaly they assumed he would be given pain relief as required.
Unfortunately, he suffered a couple of heart attacks & was in a lot of pain. The paramedics gave him morphine for pain relief & he was supposed to have someone come round to put a line in for continued pain relief. But this didnt happen.
He was in a lot of pain & his poor wife was having to ring about the line he should have had. The poor bloke had some oramorph which his wife could give him, but it wasnt enough to take care of his pain properly.
Paramedics came to the house a couple of times or so to give him pain relief & they reported he needed a line. But he never got one.
Im not blaming anyone for what happened, but this poor bloke suffered in pain for several days & nights before he died.
It was awful for him, plus it was awful for his wife. She had to see him in pain for those days.
It was not the peaceful goodbye they were expecting.
How could this happen to these people?
Oramorph does take the edge off, but it is not really good enough to handle the pain that man suffered.
Heck, it isnt even a controlled drug, unlike the morphine tablets & injections.
I only know about morphine tabs & oramorph because i have been on these plus many more tabs etc for 12 years now.
