Dear Barbara, I was recently with a patient in the last 2 weeks of his life. He was 87, dying of pancreatic cancer, but was not experiencing pain so often found with cancer of the pancreas. His hospice team put him on an extremely low dose of morphine and also low doses of Ativan and Haldol to manage terminal anxiety. Twenty-four hours before he died he lost his ability to swallow and his death rattle set in. He was terrified and seemed to panic, his eyes wide. My question: A higher dose of morphine would have prevented this panic entirely. He seemed to be choking and fighting it. In the absence of pain he wasn’t sedated enough to relax through this as some of my other deaths have been. What is your advice? Should hospice have anticipated this may happen and upped the dose? Or is it better to try and calm the patient and explain that they aren’t choking?
Thank you for writing. I will address several factors in your letter:
“He was terrified and seemed to panic.” As I read that my first thought was, was his reaction that last moment grimace and release that comes just before breathing stops or was it truly the emotion of panic? In the last hours of labor as the body is struggling to release we interpret emotions when really we are watching the labor to let go.
“A higher dose of morphine would have prevented this panic entirely. He seemed to be choking and fighting it. In the absence of pain he wasn’t sedated enough to relax through this as some of my other deaths have been.” I am not a fan of narcotics when physical pain from the disease has not been present. Most of the time when there is not a history of pain we are medicating the watchers and their discomfort rather than educating them as to what is happening.
"Or is it better to try and calm the patient and explain that they aren’t choking?" Trying to "calm" a person who is choking or panicking doesn't actually work whether death is close or not. The question we have to ask is how close to death was he? If it was days then get the morphine or whatever it takes to calm the person. If it is hours probably by the time the medication gets into the bloodstream the person will have died.
“Should hospice have anticipated that choking and panic was going to happen.” Hindsight always makes solutions look more clear cut than they are in the moment. Twenty-four hours before he died you didn't know it would be twenty-four hours. What did his signs tell you (blood pressure, mottling, respirations), hours or days? If I thought he had days I would have gone the morphine and positioning route, maybe even a bit of O2, no suctioning. If I thought hours maybe just positioning.
Also, sometimes someone varies from the predictable signs of approaching death. Each person and their journey is unique. We want to learn from our experiences yet avoid armchair quarterbacking our decisions. We do the best we can based on what we see at the time.
Something More... about Terminal Anxiety or Final Moment Grimace?
For decades I would travel around the country giving workshops to end of life professionals about the normal natural way that people die. I would teach about the patterns, the way to care for the dying, the way to care for our caregiving selves. I was unable to keep up with the demand so I put together a film of my workshop and called it This Is How People Die. This film is used for medical staff orientation, hospice nurses/social workers/ volunteer trainings, Stephen Ministries, parish nurses, and end of life doulas. It is used as an inservice at many hospices also.
8 comments
barbara
Hi Yaffa, thank you for sharing your work experiences. You are so fortunate to work for an organization that respects and supports your decisions. Blessings to you. Barbara
Hi Yaffa, thank you for sharing your work experiences. You are so fortunate to work for an organization that respects and supports your decisions. Blessings to you. Barbara
Yaffa Brautigam
Hello, Barbara! I’m a hospice RN of 3 years and one thing I appreciate about our hospice is that we are given the freedom to make a judgment call to increase our morphine or Ativan or Haldol. I’m grateful that I am able to manage symptoms better BECAUSE I have that freedom. I’m the OCRN for 5 PM to 830 AM 4X/week. I’ve never had my PCM or triage (all RN’s) OR the 2 docs I work with ever question me or Monday morning quarterback me, though at the same time, I don’t go out of bounds, either. I love what I do and consider you, after my 1st hospice mentor who is an amazing Education Director and a dear friend, to be my hero. I’m going for my cert at the end of the year, and want to thank you. I wish all hospice nurses were given the freedom I am given. I’d like to meet you some day & say thank you in person. Blessings, Yaffa
Hello, Barbara! I’m a hospice RN of 3 years and one thing I appreciate about our hospice is that we are given the freedom to make a judgment call to increase our morphine or Ativan or Haldol. I’m grateful that I am able to manage symptoms better BECAUSE I have that freedom. I’m the OCRN for 5 PM to 830 AM 4X/week. I’ve never had my PCM or triage (all RN’s) OR the 2 docs I work with ever question me or Monday morning quarterback me, though at the same time, I don’t go out of bounds, either. I love what I do and consider you, after my 1st hospice mentor who is an amazing Education Director and a dear friend, to be my hero. I’m going for my cert at the end of the year, and want to thank you. I wish all hospice nurses were given the freedom I am given. I’d like to meet you some day & say thank you in person. Blessings, Yaffa
barbara
Hi John, I am so sorry to hear of the shockingly poor, and I will add inept, care you received from the hospital and hospice. Nothing can change what happened but please talk to the hospital administrator and the hospice administrator (go to the top) and relate what happened. They need to know so changes can be made. Blessings! Barbara
Hi John, I am so sorry to hear of the shockingly poor, and I will add inept, care you received from the hospital and hospice. Nothing can change what happened but please talk to the hospital administrator and the hospice administrator (go to the top) and relate what happened. They need to know so changes can be made. Blessings! Barbara
barbara
Hi Carl, thank you for sharing the special moment of your wife’s death. It sound to me like she was protecting you and died while you were gone. She gave you a gift. Did you write her a letter like My Friend I Care suggests? Put your love, tears and thoughts on paper—everything that is in your mind and heart. Burn the letter and scatter the ashes to the wind.
My blessings are with you. Barbara
Hi Carl, thank you for sharing the special moment of your wife’s death. It sound to me like she was protecting you and died while you were gone. She gave you a gift. Did you write her a letter like My Friend I Care suggests? Put your love, tears and thoughts on paper—everything that is in your mind and heart. Burn the letter and scatter the ashes to the wind.
My blessings are with you. Barbara
Nan Tomlin RN
I really appreciated this article it addresses a need for staff especially new to the business RNs
I really appreciated this article it addresses a need for staff especially new to the business RNs
John Sulfridge
Two and half days prior to my wife death, I surcome to enrolling her for In hospital hospice care. What I saw/witness was purely inept plan by the hospice to hospital staff. They did not relay medication, especially morphine pain management for her pain (leukemia and pancrea cancer).
She was loudly yelling for HELP. Nurses did not respond to call and I had to track down other ward nurses for help. Finally assigned nurses (turned out to be student nurses) showed up and they said hospice DID NOT instruct for any pain meds! Needless to say, I was totally disappointed with hospice Doctor. Before I could fire them from contract, she passed. Hate to say, my experience with that hospice group left bad taste in my mouth. Seeing my wife in such pain was unbearable! After 4 months of her passing, I still relive that time.
Two and half days prior to my wife death, I surcome to enrolling her for In hospital hospice care. What I saw/witness was purely inept plan by the hospice to hospital staff. They did not relay medication, especially morphine pain management for her pain (leukemia and pancrea cancer).
She was loudly yelling for HELP. Nurses did not respond to call and I had to track down other ward nurses for help. Finally assigned nurses (turned out to be student nurses) showed up and they said hospice DID NOT instruct for any pain meds! Needless to say, I was totally disappointed with hospice Doctor. Before I could fire them from contract, she passed. Hate to say, my experience with that hospice group left bad taste in my mouth. Seeing my wife in such pain was unbearable! After 4 months of her passing, I still relive that time.
Ginny
Scopolamine can ease the excess pulmonary fluid which causes the respiratory ‘rattle’ at the end of life.
And many thanks Barbara for your wonderful blog…
Scopolamine can ease the excess pulmonary fluid which causes the respiratory ‘rattle’ at the end of life.
And many thanks Barbara for your wonderful blog…
Carl Laughead
Thank you for your writings and educational materials. I have found them to be truly insightful and they have helped me immensely. I witnessed my wife dying 1 hour before she passed, she had been treated with sublingual morphine and lorazepam, and even-though she was exhibiting the death rattle, seemed unconsciously at peace. Unfortunately, we left for a short break to get some food and were called soon after and told she no longer had a pulse. We returned immediately to see the sad however peaceful sleep she had fallen into.
And then follows the cycle of Disbelief, Grief, seeking Relief and like you say in “My Friend, I Care,” the scar is there and I’ll never be the same again. Bless you for all you do to help us.
Thank you for your writings and educational materials. I have found them to be truly insightful and they have helped me immensely. I witnessed my wife dying 1 hour before she passed, she had been treated with sublingual morphine and lorazepam, and even-though she was exhibiting the death rattle, seemed unconsciously at peace. Unfortunately, we left for a short break to get some food and were called soon after and told she no longer had a pulse. We returned immediately to see the sad however peaceful sleep she had fallen into.
And then follows the cycle of Disbelief, Grief, seeking Relief and like you say in “My Friend, I Care,” the scar is there and I’ll never be the same again. Bless you for all you do to help us.