morphine given too randomly in elderly patients!

they killed my mother and she also suffered !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giving morphine and lorazapam to a COPD patient is a way to assure a rapid death, and any nurse or doctor would know that COPD patients are extremely sensitive to opioid medications. Morphine does not "help" breathing, it depresses the respiratory effort, slows it and can cause it to stop completely, especially in COPD patients (every package insert for morphine and lorazapam warns about using it with COPD patients).

I have experienced the very same situation with my mother! I wish I had known what I know now, We need to join together and stop this! Hospice does NOT have the right to euthanize our parents, nor do nursing facilities have the right to neglect senior citizens because they are on palliative care and under hospice orders!!!!!! ....I am still to upset to even discuss the condition I found my mother in and the nursing home said well she is under palliative care with a DNR!!!!! an sick animal in a shelter would be given better care. This is unacceptable

My mother died three days ago in Hospice care. They were pushing for her to be on morphine when she had NO pain. 

I told the nurse when she first mentioned morphine to find an alternative to morphine because I did not want it used on my mother because of the hullination side effects. She never got back to me and I was too buzy taking care of my mother. Morphine was ordered. 

My mother was given anxiety meds (one dose) which relaxed her and she was able to sleep. At mid night Hospice decided to send a nurse to watch over my mother at night without even giving us any warning. He just showed up at the door step while we (including my mother) were all sound a sleep. He came in woke my mother up and then told us she was in pain...we told him she was not. He instisted that we give her morphine. I said NO she was sleeping soundly be fore he showed up. He pressured us and got his way he gave her two doesages of anxiety meds with in 20 mins and a dosage of mophine right on top of that. My mother became aggitated which had never happened before and started serverly hullunating. She weighted about 70 lbs...it was too much meds for such a small framed person who had not been able to eat for some time. She never recoverd from this drug overdose. On top of that I sleep in the same room and when I woke in the middle of the night that nurse was standing over my mother...I got up after he walked away (my gut was telling me to do so) and I found her oxygen mask was not only off but under the covers there is no way my mover could have put the mask under the covers and moved the covers over her. So he not only drugged her with morphine he took her oxygen mask off too. 

I was just telling my father that she died from the morphine overdose that Hospice gave her. She died an aganizing death no peace she was moving about yelling "help me" over and over....it was absolutely heart breaking to watch her go from sleeping peacefully before morphine to yelling, moving out of control. 

I am glad that others feel the same way I do about Hospice and the relentless push to give the patiant mophine when they are not in pain. 

Makes me sick to my stomach when you think you can trust Hospice to help your loved one pass over peaceful but to find out they simple murdered the patient instead. 

I wonder know what religous (cult) organization Hospice is affliated with and if these nurses are brain washed to push morphine.

My all our loved ones RIP now. 

I am wonder what percentage of Hospice patients are put on morphine....and how many die within a day or two because of morphine.

From what I am reading from the 93 post that all family members died within a day or two. 

So so sad when you think you can trust Hospice only to find out after you can not. 

Makes my heart break for our loved ones. 

Symptoms of 

The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Morph ine overdose includes the 18 symptoms listed below:

Cold skin 

Clammy skin

 Nausea 

Vomiting 

Drowsiness

 Constipation 

Palpitations

 Breathing difficulty

 Slowed breathing Slowed pulse rate

Reduced blood pressure

Dilated or pinpoint

pupils

Flaccid muscles

Fluid in the lungs

Stupor

Bluish

skin

Bluish fingernails

Bluish lips

It's too late. My mother was begging for food and water during a seven day stay in an icu. She was refused nourishment. She had a high co2 level in her blood. All of her organs were perfect. The hospice icu convinced the family that it was not humane and she was suffering from copd. The dr death in that unit said she would die within 15 minutes once her meds were stopped and moraphine administered to help her to breathe without feeling suffocated. My mom fought . She lived 9 hours without any of her normal meds. I called dr in to change my mind that my moms vitals were good. She refused and became furious and aggressive and kept giving moraphine. My sister agreed with dr. And she was the poa and caregiver. I fought and failed and was very defeated. My precious mom was 91. She was up talking , no dimentia. Just said her bottom hurt, cuz had c difbso they put tube in her bum. We asked her if she was in pain she was asked if she wanted ant pain Medes she said no! Poor thing didn't know what hit her. They euthanized her like it her life had no value and she was nothing and no one. No attorney will take the case cuz of her age. A cast away, a thow away
society. Agism!!!!!!

My father was also overdosed by the hospice workers and was killed by the big "M". I have a video of my father telling his nurse practitioner that he was NOT in pain and DID NOT WANT to be on an addictive pain killer. That he didn't need it because he wasn't in pain!!!! Hospice was brought in and they started doping him up immediately. They killed my father from this stuff. Before the morphine he was able to laugh, joke, smile, walk, drive and function albeit he had cancer. After a few weeks of the morphine he was dead. I would very much like to sue the hospice workers over this and also think a class action suit would be a great idea!

I am so sorry for your loss. My sister was also the POA for my dad and she stood by and watched the hospice workers and my brother deny him food. It was all about the inheritance money with these sickos but I lost my beloved father. Who cares about the money when you lose the ones you love. It is so strange to me how some of us can be so loving and gentle and others can be so horrific. My sister hasn't cried once since my dad died. Just tragic.

This situation happen to my mother 89 years old she have a hip surgery, after the surgery my mother was stable, she was talking, eating and happy on the next day I went back to the hospital and my mother was in a deep sleep I ask the nurse what was wrong with my mother, the nurse told me that the doctor give her morphine the night I went home June 5 2014 4mg. At 9pm ,12:00 am and 5:00 am ....I call the doctor the morning on June 6 because when my mother was in the emergency room she was giving morphine ,and she was getting sick and they discontinued the medication...how the doctor who did the surgery do not read my mother chart from the emergency room indicating that the morphine was not good for my mother... So in June 6 the doctor around 11am indicated that my mother have a overdose of morphine,,and they try to des intoxicated my mother body with narkan my mother wakeup and was very weak her breathing was bad and she fight her dead into 8:15pm when she died next to me......this was so frustrated for me and right now I am going to sue the hospital for neglected,, a was a chart where one doctor indicated that the morphine was discharge from the emergency room. This morphine in elderly People is not good

yes - my father is in the hands of the unscrupulous. He is SO much better on Haldol and morphine - and I am the cause of his anxiety.

sorry to listen to your situation, my mother was overdose with morphine in june 6 2014, after a surgery of her hip surgery, after the surgery my mother was stable, talking and happy during 1 day my mother was giving a lot of morphine 4 mg ( 4 times in one night) the next day when i return to the hospital my mother was not able to wake up around 2pm june 7 my mother need it to be desintoxicated with narkan medication and she died around 8:15pm she stop breathing right now i am sueing the Hospital because .... when my mother was in the Emergency Room ,,a Doctor discharge the morphine for the pain because my mother heart condition. (june 3) You should sue the hospital you dont want this situation happen again to another person.

Hi everybody!  I hope I am replying in the right place--I am new to this topic and in responding to discussions online like this.  My name is Lisa.  I wish to despartely reach out to help myself understand what happened to my father.  My 84 year-old father died on January 10, 2015.  I believe the initial cause of his death was from morphine.  My father was diagnosed with stage four angiosarcoma on October 6th, 2014.  His current health conditions up to that time consisted of osteoporosis--expecially in his back, and COPD, and chronic heart failure of which was not severe and he was not on any medication, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus type 2 which he developed when he was 72.  My father was an honorable man, but not treated well in his later life by certain people.  My father had been dealing with alcoholism since he was 75.  He claimed the alcohol helped to ease his chronic back pain due to compression of his spine on his sciatic nerve.  I think he may have also drank due to depression. 

My father was 84, but was devistated by his cancer diagnosis and said he wanted to live.  My father was seeing a specialist in sarcoma at a local univerisity hospital since October 21, 2014.  This doctor was fantastic in all ways and started my father on an oral treatment regimen that was very new and recently out of clincal trials. This new medication--votrient--did not have all the usual side effects of traditional chemotherapy.   My father had to agree to stop drinking to take the medication.  He did.  The medication was working to shrink his cancer, which even though it was in stage four, it had only spread to cervical lymph nodes in his neck.  My father had no cancer pain.  The cancer treatment shrunk the cancer in his neck.  The doctor also prescribed morphine 15 mg extended-release every 12 hours, orally, for his debilitating back pain.  At the time it was prescribed, I felt uneasy about the situation, but my father had just learned he had cancer, and I wanted him to be helped in any and every way possible.  My father only took the medication twice a day as prescribed, but he was taking the doses within a smaller window, like two pills within 8 or 9 hours, instead of one pill every 12 hours.  I wonder if he took the pills more often because the liked the emotional high he may have been getting.  And due to his cancer diagnosis, I could understand. 

I noticed a huge decline in my father.  Many of the side effects that other people mentioned on this site I noticed my father was experiencing.  I told the medical staff that I thought the medication was too much, but staff said they did not feel it was leading to his decline.  After being on morphine for about six weeks at home there was a dramatic decline in his ability to take care of himself.  He slept alot, hardly ate, confused, low blood pressure, low blood oxygen saturations rate, his nails were dusky in color, constipation, urinary retention, falls, and he relinquisded doing any of his self care.  Finally, on Christmas, the family was able to convince him to go to the hospital.  He went into the hospital with a diagnosis of back pain.  Within 72 hours of being in the hospital, he had developed five pressure ulcers on his bottom, with three of them being stage 3--one 5 cm long and 3 cm across, and two stage two pressure ulcers.  He had a huge appetite--better than he had at home--and was eating well.  He layed in the bed most of the time.  I noticed on day five he was becoming confused.  His ankles were turning blue.  He said his chest hurt and his sputum was yellow.  They diagnosed him with MRSA pnuemonia by day seven or eight.  He was transfered to the pulmonary unit, then to ICU.  My father's main complaint was back pain.  The hospital was trying to be careful and not give him morphine because they finally figured out the morphine was lowering his blood pressure.  But he got roxinal during the first many days stay in the hospital, then onto morphine  In ICU, he was in a deep sleep most of the time, and his muscles were flaccid. They could not keep his blood pressure up with I.V. blood pressure medications.   He died from ARDS and septic shock on January 10th.

The hospital never gave us much information, ever, about his condition.  He was in the bed most of the time with fluid collecting in parts of his body such as arms and lungs that were in a recumbent position.  My intuition was telling me he was dying, but I was in disbelief.  I am a nurse myself by education, but I did not choose a clinical route when I graduated school.  I believe the morphine lead to his decline, and possibly caused fluid to develop in his lungs.  Then while in the hospital, he contracted MRSA, and his body and lungs were in the right condition for the the MRSA to grow and spread into his bloodstream.  If anyone can give their opinions on my post, I would appreciate it.  Thank you. 

This is a slippery slope, the last years and months of someone life is the most costly. If you think it is something else you are wrong, we live this. They have been using morphine for years to kill the elderly and are still today. These are our Mom's, Dad's, Grandparpents, the poeple that have build this country. The Doctors tell you not to bring them back to the hospital, that pneumonia medicine is an extreme measure, and talk about quality of life, I have also been told by a Doctor to let Him go over the cliff. And another person, this is a good way to die, that person needed an pacemaker, I wonder if that had been her mother is she would have said that. It is all about pain they say, this is just being used to do away with them. This just happen to us in Dec. 2013, we knew this person for 6 years and had been takin care of Him and we knew he was not in pain, and we have been trying to deal with it, who decides who lives and who dies, I believe it is God, not the Doctors, This happens alot with the family really not knowing what is going on.

My Mom 102 + 7 mo was given same coctail of drugs in nursing home as I refused Hospice for her and passed on. My friend 70 also given this coctail of drugs by hospice even tho I warned his family not to receive or allow these drugs as they would shut him down. He was making attempts to lift weights and eat again. I watched in horror as he was too young to pass on but I did not have POA to help him and the hospice group sent a cute young girl to administer who won their given approval without knowledge of what they were doing. We cry.