People's Daily: please take good care of the doctor's kindness

A patient with gastric cancer was admitted to the oncology department of a hospital in Beijing, where the hospital was given palliative treatment such as analgesia and asthma, including morphine injections, but the patient died of respiratory failure. After a lapse of six months, the patient's family to the doctor “ excessive use of morphine ” on the grounds that the hospital to court to ask for compensation. Recently, the court dismissed all the plaintiffs' claims and sentenced the hospital to victory.
In this case, it is a basic fact that the death of a patient is caused by a critical condition rather than by excessive use of morphine. According to the WHO, every person at the end of his life has the right to high quality hospice care. Morphine and other opioids are the first choice or essential drugs for cancer pain relief and hospice care. How can a doctor stand idly by when a patient with rapid life exhaustion suffers unimaginable pain? Give palliative treatment, and try to alleviate the pain, reflects the medical humanistic care. A fair decision has a profound effect on the dignity of life.
In the global quality of death rankings, China ranked behind. China's population accounts for about 20% of the global population, while the use of morphine is less than 5% of the world's total. This means that many dying patients should have used morphine, but did not get enough medication and could only die in pain. What's the reason? First, the social concept lags behind. Many people believe that patients with advanced cancer should be “ rescue &rdquo at all costs;. In clinic, it is a common phenomenon to re treat, relieve pain, weight the length of life and reduce the quality of life. Two is lack of legal support. A lot of doctors because of fear of lawsuits over, had to take measures to protect themselves, even in dying patients with great pain, did not dare to use morphine sensitive drugs “ ”, because once the legal disputes occur, it is easy to be a judicial authentication institution identified as “ use of morphine &rdquo, not careful; legal liability. These two factors lead to the slow development of palliative care in China and the poor quality of life among the dying patients.
In the American film "bloody hacksaw Ling", the doctor met severely injured patients, always ask: “ this is a need of morphine? ” when a positive answer is reached, the doctor will inject morphine into the victim's body. The WHO initiative regards death as a natural process, neither deliberately speeding up death nor delaying the arrival of death. As a oncologist, they often face &ldquo, die and die, live and live badly, &rdquo. When cures have become impossible, are doctors fighting death in vain, or treating pain as a therapeutic principle? It's a medical problem, and a social one. Shi Huaizhe, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, once said, "&ldquo, it will be a sacred and new mission for doctors to enjoy a moment's peace before death.". ” times are progressing, ideas are renewing. Let the late cancer patients die quietly and with dignity, should gradually become the consensus of the whole society.
In fact, healing has never been the sole purpose of medicine. It is more important for doctors to help and comfort patients when the disease cannot be cured. For patients with advanced cancer, death is irreversible. It is not only in the best interests of the patient but also in accordance with ethical principles that doctors take palliative measures to make them die as comfortably as possible. In clinical practice, many medical interventions have definite validity and unavoidable harmfulness. When doctors are faced with &ldquo, the double effect &rdquo, it can be defended by ethics as long as it conforms to the interests of patients. This is a universal principle.
Medicine is the expression of human kindness. In the face of medical uncertainty, doctors have great “ discretion, ”. Right and wrong, keep the doctor, also known as the &ldquo &rdquo occupation conscience;. Sometimes, a risky treatment, although does not comply with the guidelines, but miraculously save the lives of patients; sometimes, the flexible use of a drug, although beyond the scope of the instructions, but enough to make the lives of patients with better quality. Medicine is an exploratory subject, cannot disregard the changing circumstances, but not blindly superstition authority, otherwise it can not progress. As long as a great heart of love is concerned, the patient's interests are at the top of the list, and society should be understood and supported even if there is an unexpected outcome. If the lack of a tolerant social environment, the doctor come to a standstill, everywhere of self-protection, not for patients with any risk, and ultimately hurt or patients.
Life is the natural law. When you are approaching the end of your life, if you want to be treated with dignity, please take care of the doctor's kindness!