Euthanasia not the only pain relief: doctors

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2000
Euthanasia not the only pain relief: doctors

By Joe Hildebrand

SYDNEY, April 14 AAP - Support for voluntary euthanasia has been partly caused by ignorance
of proper pain treatment of terminally ill patients, two leading palliative care specialists
said today.

Dr Nathan Cherny, director of the Palliative Medicine Unit in a Jerusalem hospital,
said that if the quality of patients' life was improved they would not want to die.

"I think the general motivating factor for this renewed interest in elective death
is related to the fact that people are scared they're going to suffer," Dr Cherny said.

"You can't eliminate all suffering but if you provide enough relief most people will
say: `Look, I'd really rather live'."

Dr Cherny said that over the past sixty years doctors had been too enamoured with their
ability to prolong life without taking the quality of that life into account.

"The focus became very much a focus on the disease and to some degree the patient was forgotten."

Both Dr Cherny and Dr Paul Glare, head of Palliative Care at Sydney's Royal Prince
Alfred Hospital, agreed there was a culture in Australia of "she'll be right mate", meaning
patients were often denied necessary pain treatment.

"A lot of people are putting up with pain they don't need to put up with because they're
frightened of telling the doctor," he said.

"There's also issues like they don't want to waste the doctor's time, they don't want
to be a whinger, but it seems to be mainly because they're frightened it's going to be
more bad news."

Dr Glare said that up to half of patients who needed specialist pain management were
not receiving it due to these factors.

Dr Cherny echoed these concerns, saying that palliative care was neglected both in
Australia and internationally.

"We need to run with (palliative care) in a constructive way and not in a way that
people feel that being dead is the only way they're not going to suffer," he said.

"Patients with terminal illnesses aren't in a rush to die and they will live as long
and as well as possible."

AAP jh/sb/as

KEYWORD: PAIN

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