Study finds many doctors disregard wishes of cancer patients. Frequently, patients with advanced cancer simply want to be made as comfortable as possible as they wind down their final days. Many of these patients are receiving treatment focused on extending their lives rather than easing their pain.

[u/mvea]

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2025/08/26/cancer-patients-treatment-wishes-study/7921756217134/

[u/chapterpt]

If pain meds are prescribed by a doctor and controlled by nursing staff, addiction isnt a risk. 

Physical dependence is a thing, but again if the order is respected as written by a doctor then at worst a person is tapered off.

The distress protocol that is typically scapolomine, dilaudid, and versed injected sub cue is common and ive administered it. When it risks letting the person check out without pain, typically a nurse finishing shift will push the meds and leave the unit.

[u/TantalusComputes2 → u/chapterpt]

No idea what you mean by your last sentence

[u/Noctew → u/TantalusComputes2]

It means: you give a cocktail that helps with the symptoms of actively dying, but also can push the patient over the edge of death, and you donʼt want to be near the patient then if youʼd have to resuscitate them. Youʼd want to find them later when they have peacefully passed away and it is too late for resuscitation.

[u/izzittho → u/Noctew]

I presume this means when you know it’s what they want but might face some issues making it happen if you did it before end of shift, like if they don’t have their DNR or have family that would want you to ignore it but you know it wouldn’t be worth it to make them suffer a resuscitation and they’d agree?

[u/VRTemjin → u/izzittho]

Euthanasia is taboo, so this is the nurses granting that mercy with plausible deniability.

[u/WeenyDancer → u/TantalusComputes2]

It means they kill the patient.

[u/lost-picking-flowers → u/WeenyDancer]

It means they give them the pain meds they need to be comfortable. Sometimes that dose is enough to push an already dying person over the edge. My grandma just died in hospice and she was in so much pain that we had to have her moved to a place with access to the heavy duty meds mentioned above. She willingly ceased her life saving meds to enter hospice, and when someone is so ill and in so much pain it becomes really important to make them comfortable - it takes precedence over literally everything, and I know my grandma chose hospice to die on her own terms with dignity and above all, comfort.

I’m not sure if this is what happened with her, but if it did no one in my family would look at the nurses like they killed her. She was there to receive as much pain control as she needed, and she wanted that desperately.

[u/sadi89 → u/chapterpt]

I do this for a living and have specific education in end of life and I’ve never heard of that cocktail. Those are all common drugs used for comfort at end of life but not given at the same time. These also don’t tend to the first line of treatment in the area that I live in.

This may be more common in an ICU setting? I’ve never worked in that environment so I can’t speak.

These meds are routinely given throughout a shift, not just at the end. Sometimes patients die shortly after administration of opioid medication sometimes they don’t. It’s more coincidence than anything else, these patients are at the very end of life and are going to die with or without medication.

[u/Enlightened_Gardener → u/sadi89]

My great grandfather died this way. His family doctor told his wife to let the family know to say goodbye today. When he had the opportunity to say goodbye to his brothers and childrenand whatnot, the doctor gave him an enormous shot of morphine “to keep him comfortable” and he passed in his sleep.

I personally think it’s a kindness, but it needs to be legislated and controlled or you end up with people like Fred West….

[u/SecurityTheaterNews → u/Enlightened_Gardener]

I heard a story about a cancer patient that was going home to die. The doctor gave him some morphine patches and said "Now Andy, don't put these patches on all at once, it will kill you."

[u/motivaction → u/[deleted]]

What do you think hospice means?

[u/BreatheClean → u/[deleted]]

It's not a risk with advanced cancer where the patient has requested comfort over heroic lifesaving attempts, which is the topic of this article. Yes the patient may become dependant but doesn't have the luxury of worrying about a long term addiction when their cancer is advanced. It says "wind down their FINAL DAYS'

[u/RandomBoomer → u/[deleted]]

We're talking about end-of-life care, not a scenario where someone gets better.