Letter: Nurses deal with patients' pain on a regular basis

As a registered nurse and as a member of the Nevada Nurses Association, I am concerned on behalf of the residents of Clark County who are exposed to the debates on end-of-life issues, such as assisted suicide, but who may not have considered a key -- but often unspoken -- element underlying that debate: inadequate pain management.

Requests for assisted suicide may result from an inadequate response to pain. Registered nurses, who provide 24-hour bedside care to dying patients in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices have a unique perspective on the need for adequate pain management. We confront pain with dying patients and their families every day.

The American Nurses Association believes that registered nurses should not hesitate to use full and effective doses of pain medication for the proper management of pain in the dying patient. The increasing of medication to achieve adequate pain symptom control even at the expense of life, thus hastening death secondarily, is ethically justified.

I want my family, my friends, and members of my community to know that effective pain management in the dying patient should not be confused with assisted suicide. Nurses, individually and collectively, have an obligation to provide comprehensive and compassionate end-of-life care that includes the promotion of comfort and the relief of pain.

As a registered nurse, I want to let patients know that they are not alone in facing -- and addressing -- pain.

Cynthia Bunch

archive