LOS ANGELES: Some nurses are afraid of repercussions when giving medication to patients who are close to death, claims a senior doctor.
A hospital’s director of palliative care told an inquiry into end-of-life choices she was concerned sometimes pain relief was withheld or given in lower doses because hospital staff were scared.
“It’s not uncommon for us to have a scenario on the ward where the nursing staff are very fearful that if they give that injection and the patient dies at any point in time… there will be a repercussion for them,” she said.
She said change in palliative care moved at a “glacial pace”…