Doctors hasten child’s death from cancer
A new studied suggests that doctors may have administered fatal doses of morphine to children dying of cancer in order to end a child’s suffering upon the parent’s request.
In a recent study involving 141 parents whose children died of cancer a year earlier at three different hospitals in Boston and Minnesota, a handful of parents admitted to asking their child’s doctor to hasten their child’s death in order to end the suffering; according to these parents the doctors complied with the parents’ wishes and administered fatal amounts of morphine.
Of the parents interviewed for the study 13 percent admitted to considering asking doctors to end their child’s life and 9 percent said that they had the discussion with their child’s caregiver. Parents of five of the children said they had specifically asked for their children to be put to death in order to stop the pain and three parents said that the doctors actually followed through with the request.
The lead author of the survey as well as several other physicians say that they doubt the doctor actually went through with the request; rather, they think that doctors might have increased morphine doses to ease pain and that the children’s subsequent deaths were only coincidental. 
and it is bad because….?
I agree with the parents. Horrible choice, but end the suffering. I’m all for doing what you can to extend “quality of life”, but I watched my brother-in-law suffer 6+ months when no cure was known for his brain cancer. One round of chemo & radiation didn’t slow the growth & had it been me (& had my wits about me…) enjoy life while you can & call it “assisted suicide”, but someone help me! My heart breaks for anyone, parent, friend, spouse, sibling….but I wish the choice of the person & their family would be heard, loud & clear!
And people/children who have cancer and have been told it is incurable, who do not wish to have chemo and radiation, are FORCED by the courts to have to endure the torture of chemo and radiation. God help us all!
if your that deathly ill, let them have whatever they want! the courts/govt should not have any right to tell you how to die… Period! i would much rather die in a numbed state of mind rather than suffering pain and time.
Hope I get that kind of assistance when it time to go.
This is done with or without the consent of parents. once a parent is coerced and signs a DNR the quality of care changes. There is an obvious lack of concern for exposure to bacteria and allergens. The staff feels justified giving less care and treats the child as a lost cause. It is obvious that an end stage child is a burden to the system that the staff has already moved on.
Anyone who has lost a loved one to cancer knows that w/o morphine the pain would be unbearable to the patient. Give your loved one a dignified controlled transition.