In Memory Of The Greatest Cat And Friend A Girl Could Have
LOOKING AT THINGS FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
IN MEMORY - YOU WILL BE MISSED
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UNBELIEVABLE
Hospice patients frequently need pain medication on a regular basis due to their disease process. Many of these patients have cancer with metastasis. The medication used most frequently is liquid Morphine which comes in different strengths. The liquid Morphine works well to help with pain because it is absorbed under the tongue. Comfort care is the goal for these patients on their last days of life. This is the philosophy of hospice.
Recently I was talking to a hospice nurse who was telling me about one nursing home she visits. She told me one of the nurses, with an addiction problem, was substituting the liquid Morphine with water. When I first heard this I became angry wondering why this person ever got into an industry that was to help people. The thought process behind not giving hospice patients their pain medication for comfort only to satisfy an addiction totally blows my mind. Apparently the facility and nurse are currently being investigated. I hope this nurse is also charged with negligence instead of just losing their license to practice.
I don’t know the specifics on how they found out about the nurse but I believe it is other health care professionals’ responsibility to tell their supervisors about suspicious behavior and/or the inability to achieve comfort for their patients only when one particular nurse is working. This has happened in the past and unfortunately will continue as long as nobody knows about it. It is unacceptable behavior and it sickens me to think this nurse practiced for any length of time making their patients suffer. Unbelievable.