Easing Suffering of Dying Patients

I agree with Dana Parsons’ comment, “We’ll all have to do more thinking about the business of death. Perhaps we’ve become so awe-struck in this century by medicine and modern science that we’ve forgotten that we’re supposed to be in control of our own lives” (“How Far Should We Open Door When Death Knocks?”, Feb. 21).

But I don’t support physician-assisted suicide as a way of getting more control of one’s life or as a method of relief from pain and suffering for terminally ill patients.

Physician-assisted suicides are desperate acts sought by desperate patients. As a medical director for Community Hospice Care and a cancer care specialist, I treat patients who are in pain daily. In hospice, where we care for terminally ill patients, we effectively prevent suicide because we pay equal attention to the physical, social, psychological and spiritual aspects of their pain and suffering.

I urge patients and their families to demand effective pain relief--and hospice care when necessary--from their physicians. To be responsive to this demand, physicians need to be reassured that appropriate prescribing of pain medications will not subject them to punitive Drug Enforcement Agency actions, but rather will improve patient care. Patients will then have the ability to enhance the quality of their remaining days with comfort and peace of mind.

PAUL H. COLUZZI, MD

Medical Director, Community Hospice Care Inc.

Anaheim Hills