Wichita Eagle Logo

Parents tell study: Doctors hastened death for kids | The Wichita Eagle

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Archives
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Eagle+ Sign In
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Newsletters
    • Newspaper in Education
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services
    • About Us

    • News
    • Crime & Courts
    • Local
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Lottery
    • Nation & World
    • Politics
    • Special Projects
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Finger on the Weather
    • Prairie Politics
    • Sports
    • Wichita State
    • Varsity Kansas
    • Chiefs
    • K-State
    • Kansas
    • Outdoors
    • Royals
    • State Colleges
    • Wingnuts
    • NBC baseball
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Bob Lutz
    • Jayhawk Dispatch
    • K-Stated
    • Lutz Blog
    • Michael Pearce
    • Shockwaves
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Health Care
    • Small Business
    • Forward Wichita
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Air Capital Insider
    • Business Casual
    • Business Perspectives
    • Carrie Rengers
    • Living
    • Celebrations
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Suzanne Tobias
    • Entertainment
    • The Arts
    • Books
    • Celebrities
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Restaurants
    • Events
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dining with Denise
    • Movie Maniac
    • Keeper of the Plans
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters
    • Opinion Columns
    • Submit a Letter
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Richard Crowson
    • Kirk Seminoff's Pivot Point
  • Obituaries

    • Classifieds
    • Auctions/Estate Sales
    • Garage Sales
    • Jobs
    • Legal Notices
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Service Directory
    • Place An Ad
    • Merchandise
    • Jobs
    • Cars
    • Homes
    • Apartments
    • Other Categories
    • Classified Support Center
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Mobile & Apps

National

Parents tell study: Doctors hastened death for kids

By LINDSEY TANNER

    ORDER REPRINT →

March 02, 2010 12:00 AM

CHICAGO — A small but provocative study suggests that doctors may be giving fatal morphine doses to a few children dying of cancer to end their suffering, at their parents' request.

A handful of parents told researchers that they had asked doctors to hasten their children's deaths — and that doctors complied, using high doses of the powerful painkiller.

The lead author of the study and several other physicians said they doubt doctors are engaged in active mercy killing. Instead, they speculate the parents interviewed for the study mistakenly believed that doctors had followed their wishes.

A more likely scenario is that doctors increased morphine doses to ease pain, and that the children's subsequent deaths were coincidental, said lead author Joanne Wolfe, a palliative pain specialist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital in Boston.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and most other mainstream doctor groups oppose mercy killing but say withholding life-prolonging treatment for dying patients can be ethical.

Douglas Diekema, a medical ethicist at Seattle Children's Hospital, said the study results are not surprising.

"I have no doubt that in a small number of cases, some physicians might cooperate with a parent's desire to see a child's suffering ended. This might include giving a drug for sedation or pain control that also suppresses the drive to breathe.

"Most physicians don't intentionally push that drug to the point of stopping a child's breathing, but some may be comfortable not intervening if a child stops breathing in the course of treating him or her for discomfort," Diekema said.

The study was published Monday in the March edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. It was based on interviews with parents of 141 children who had died of cancer and were treated at three hospitals, in Boston and Minnesota.

Among parents studied, one in eight, or 13 percent, said they had considered asking about ending their child's life, and 9 percent said they had that discussion with caregivers. Parents of five children said they had explicitly requested euthanasia for their dying children, and parents of three said it had been carried out, with morphine.

  Comments  

Videos

Third graders shave their heads to support classmate with Alopecia

Upper Midwest roads go nearly invisible during ‘Arctic Blast’

View More Video

Trending Stories

K-State takeaways: Why Barry Brown is making a case for Big 12 Player of the Year

February 19, 2019 12:22 AM

19-year-old Wichita woman killed in Monday’s rollover crash

February 19, 2019 11:28 AM

K-State bounces back with win at West Virginia, still leads Big 12 alone

February 18, 2019 10:18 PM

This Wichita restaurant will reopen with a new look in a week

February 18, 2019 10:40 AM

She is an assistant coach on the boys team, out to share a message

February 18, 2019 05:29 PM

Read Next

Police dismiss tip Smollett, 2 brothers together in elevator

Celebrities

Police dismiss tip Smollett, 2 brothers together in elevator

By DON BABWIN Associated Press

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 20, 2019 01:07 AM

Chicago police have investigated but dismissed a tip that on the night "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett reported being attacked by two masked men he was in an elevator of his apartment building with two brothers questioned in the probe.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE NATIONAL

Royale rumble: ‘Apex Legends’ smashing ‘Fortnite’ records

Celebrities

Royale rumble: ‘Apex Legends’ smashing ‘Fortnite’ records

February 20, 2019 01:48 AM
N. Carolina elections board calls challenged House candidate

Nation & World

N. Carolina elections board calls challenged House candidate

February 20, 2019 12:41 AM
US steps up winter-warfare training as global threat shifts

Business

US steps up winter-warfare training as global threat shifts

February 20, 2019 12:23 AM
Border wall, bullet train: California vs. Trump escalates

Nation & World

Border wall, bullet train: California vs. Trump escalates

February 20, 2019 12:14 AM
Mississippi doctor, civil rights pioneer James Anderson dies

Nation & World

Mississippi doctor, civil rights pioneer James Anderson dies

February 20, 2019 12:12 AM

Nation & World

Nurse charged in fatal drug-swap error to appear in court

February 20, 2019 12:09 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
Advertising
  • Information
  • Digital Advertising
  • Rates
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story