My sister is wanting to get the medicine to aide in helping my Mom pass away. She is 95, she is on hospice, she does not walk/talk, but is fully alert. I'm the one that's been taking care of her and just don't know how I feel about this.
Any feedback would be very much appreciated. Ty RM
If she is not rational, not of sound mind, she cannot avail herself of any medications to help her pass in the United States.
If she doesn't have a terminal diagnosis, she cannot avail herself of this in the United States.
Hospice will keep her comfortable. But without a disease that will take her no one really can know when she will die. If she wishes to stop eating and drinking she may pass in a month's time, but this is uncomfortable and more hard to do than you would imagine. And even small amounts of fluid can keep us living much longer than you would imagine.
If by medication to help her pass you are speaking simply of morphine, which Hospice can administer for pain relief and breathing distress, air hunger, know that this doesn't "help her pass". If it is needed in large amounts to prevent pain or air hunger then it may hasten death by some few minutes, hours, even days, but it isn't given to "help her pass".
I wish you the best, and I wish her peace.
So no "fatal dose" can knowingly be given.
She will continue to decline and die from the condition(s) that qualified her for Hospice.
Hospice will manage pain but they will not either give nor supply enough medication to kill her.
Why does your sister want to hasten her death particularly if mom is fully alert?
However, nobody should intentionally overdose another human being, it's called murder.
Perhaps you are not properly wording your post and mean something else, and it's not as bad as it sounds.
From your profile:
My name is Holly and both of my parents are 73 years old they are still living at their house but are starting to have issues like hearing loss diabetes incontinence but they're still doing good. Just looking for support for different issues to see how everybody else handles it.
??
I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she's burned out rather than a self-centered ghoul. She needs to take a break for a while.
What signs are you observing that your mother is “fully alert”?
My mother had terrible episodes of anxiety when she was at the end of her life, as severe as what she’d experienced as a much younger woman.
My current LO, also in a skilled nursing residence, has remained placid and comfortable in spite of some physical issues that might have been more distressing to someone else.
Morphine was administered to my mother, and she died about 16 hours after she began to receive it.
Morphine has not been administered to my present LO although death may be imminent.
I have all of her end of life paperwork, and I’m absolutely confident that her care and my input are as ethical as we can provide.
I’ve also read opinions by medical ethicists of my LO’s religious faith, who indicate that if the intent of end of life meds is based on safety, peace, and comfort, and administered carefully based on the patient’s need, the concern that receiving such meds may ultimately cause death is not to be considered as important as the patient’s comfort.
To sum up, an ethical hospice will not administer a medication based on family requests. EVER.
So if your hospice is providing good care to your mother, and if your mother, in spite of all of her issues, is peaceful and comfortable, the likelihood of the administration of end of life morphine is diminished.
If you have access to her hospice, ask THEM how they make decisions about end of life medications, and how their decisions may impact your mother.