Morphine and End of Life

Want to share some details of a fascinating letter to a medical journal article about the use of morphine and end of life.
Apparantly there's a belief that morphine can hasten death. The author of the article says that's simply not so.

Writing in the British Medical Journel the author, a consultant in palliative care medicine, says there's 20 years of research showing morphine doesn't shorten life or speed death. In fact, he says, the sedative effect of morphine wears off quickly and toxic doses cause distressing agitatation.

Anyone who's been with a loved one in the last hours of their days may have wondered if letting them have more morphine speeded their death. This article dispells that idea.
To read the entire article check out http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/march/ltr440pdf

Not addressed in that letter- the issue of not providing enough pain management.
We have a problem in this country with patients not getting enough pain treatment because of misconceptions about how much pain medicine a patient will use. There's been an ongoing effort to help patients better mange pain. It's something that has to be discussed with doctors.