My Grandma was euthanized without consent.

Yeah, I do believe my grandma was euthanized without consent.
How did I get to that conclusion?
Well, My parents came for a Holiday visit the other day and we started talking about my wonderful grandmother who died 3 years ago. She was 98 when she died.
My grandma was a strong and healthy woman who worked hard on her farm.
She loved being outside. She ate vegetables from her own garden and raised her own chickens for eggs and sheep for wool.
I admired her when I was little and loved spending time with her.
When she got older however, Alzheimer's disease kicked in so my relatives decided a nursing home facility would be best for her.
I remembering visiting my grandma in the nursing home and she seemed fine during the times I went to visit her. She didn't remember me, but she still had her spunk.
I eventually moved 1800 miles away and wasn't able to see her as much.
I missed her a lot.
Anyway, my dad told me just recently, that when my grandma died it wasn't a very pleasant death. He never wanted to tell me about it becasue he wanted to spare me the pain of the event.
At the time, I was told that my grandma just died of old age, but I was never told that the nurses were giving my grandma morphine every half hour during her nap time. In fact my parents were even clueless to the fact that nursing home was encouraging my grandma to die. My dad told me that the nurses kept saying how strong my grandma was and she had a good heart, so they would give her another shot of pain killers for her "supposedly Painful" event. My grandma would wake up trying to get a breath and then she would fall back asleep again while the nurse would be waiting to inject her. My dad said my grandma was NOT in pain, just tired, but the doctors said it was necessary to keep giving my grandma the shots.

Finally, my dad asked a nurse what kind of shot they were giving my grandma and the nurse told my parents that the pain killer was indeed morphine.
Eventually, after many hours of morphine injections, my grandma finally died.

I just wondered how it may have been different if they never gave my grandma any injection at all. I wonder how many elderly patients have died prematurely because of this procedure.

Anyway, It feels like my grandma died yesterday and with these new details my heart is heavy.
Thank you for letting me express my frustrations and sorrow.


BTW...here's a link to the Morphine procedure. It's nothing new, but it still seems unfair. I can understand maybe giving a pain killer to someone who is in a lot of pain and wants it is on their death bed, but to give a shot becasue they are just old and they are clueless....sounds like euthanasia to me.

www.sciencedaily.com...

After, god-willing, living a full life of nearly a century in length, if I have the steep decline of Alzheimer's, I sure hope that I can have the choice to move-on in a pain-free way. We, as a society, need to value quality over quantity, much more than we do. I know how easily this type of discussion can deteriorate into screeching about 'death-panels,' but in the real world, there are finite resources, and tough choices have to be made. The best-case scenario is to empower individuals w/ the freedom to make smart and informed choices for themselves.

Best,
Skunknuts

It sounds like routine medical malpractice, which is what happens a lot in nursing homes and other such facilities with elderly people. It's a common occurrence these days.

Nursing homes and doctors get sued all the time for this type of stuff. You should check the better business bureau for any complaints of similar behavior for any of the places she was at.

Hope this helps.

I'm sorry for your loss and it is clearly still affecting you after three years.

Morphine is the most widely used painkiller for a wide range of applications because it is cheap, effective and doesn't cause stress on major organs.

Unfortunately (as with all opiates), tolerance and dependance are rapidly developed.

Morphine itself won't slowly poison you, even in massive doses administered to tolerant individuals but a "one off" overdose surely will. All that is required is a larger dose than one is tolerant to.

If she died as a result of morphine overdose then hospital records will quite easily reflect this as respiratory and cardiovascular failure would immediately follow an unusually high dose.

Have you been informed of the official cause of death?

Sorry to open wounds but this would be the first place to look if you suspect an injustice.

This strikes me as being very curious. Have you researched the nursing home she was at? You visited her there - do you remember anything about it? Was your grandma still in good physical condition? How much, if anything, did she remember? What were the workers like? Did you meet anyone who administered medication?

I'm interested because I went through something a little similar -- not that I believe my grandma was euthanized, but less than two months ago, she died in a nursing home and also had alzheimer's. She did receive morphine at first and then oxycontin towards the end of it all -- but she was in very, very bad condition and a lot of pain.

I share this because, as a result of this very depressing incident, I spent a lot of time in various nursing homes over the past several years. On top of that, my mom always went through a lot of trouble to make sure the patients were being treated fairly -- so far as to put a hidden camera in my grandma's room.

So based on my experiences, I feel as if I could perhaps at least give my opinion as to whether your grandma was being abused or not. I'm concerned, and although I'm certainly not a professional on this topic, I think I might have enough first-hand experience witnessing how things go in nursing homes to at least give you some feedback.

Morphine is also used as a treatment for the symptom of shortness of breath. It is also used as a treatment for a cause of shortness of breath that is congestive heart failure. It helps to reduce the pressures on the heart. It is quite possible that it did accelerate the death of your grandmother however, I would be shocked if it was given solely for the purpose of ending her life. You have my sympathies.

reply to post by blue_fish


Very disturbing to hear about this happening to you dear old grandmother, my grandmother is now 83 and she have not other health related problems but just old age, dementia is not one of them and she is the oldest of three sisters that are still alive and also in their eighties, while her two younger sisters are in nursing home in Florida she is still living in her appartment in NJ and refuse to join her sisters.

Sad that this type of things happen and that you was not even consulted or told about it as a member of the family perhaps because you are too young and your grandmother immediate family members are still alive.

I am allergic to morphine, I am sure hope that they don't use that stuff on me when I be too old to complain.

reply to post by OZtracized
No, I was not informed about the real cause of my grandmothers death. At the time I was just told it was because of old age, but I would be interested to find out the truth now. Thanks

reply to post by sowerby

My grandmother was put in a small country nursing home in Iowa.
The facility seemed nice. They had bingo games and birthday parties and even had accordion player come in for music day.
I honestly couldn't see anything wrong with the place.
The nurses seemed nice. I never really got to know any of them, but they seemed to treat my grandma well.

I wasn't around to see the nurses give any medications to my grandma.

My grandma was in excellent health at her age.
She was a little slow at times and used a cane to get around once in awhile, but she didn't have cancer, no breathing problems or any real physical problems that I know of.

The doctors all told my parents that she had a great heart for her age and she would probably live to be over 100.

I'm going to ask my parents a bit more about my grandma today and see if I can find out some more info.

Well..I came up empty again. Still the same old story. They say my grandmother died of old age and that's what I'm supposed to live with. If they did kill her..well..not much I can do now.
Just remember, if anyone has a parent or grandparent in a nursing home, keep a close eye on them...they just may be drugging them without consent.

Morphin overdose maybe, but seriously - 98 yrs is a very full life. can you imagine the changes she saw just in her life time.
however, on a different note: death by doctors orders is not rare.
through a topsecret informant who wishes to remain unknown.

says' that she worked in the terminal ward at a major metro hospital. she swore me to never tell. I said I would never reveal her name to no one, and she said ok - when a person has reached a point of no return. and nothing can help a person. the doctors order the patient to be euthenized through injection. whoa~! and she has no reason to lie, I trust what she said. and she put it much more delicately than I can. but I guess it makes sense... or cents....

I'm sorry you feel your grandmother was put to sleep. and the information I have provided may inflame some peoples suspicions and I am sorry if my knowledge has caused any concerns.
I believe she thought at the time and now that no one has done anything wrong, they have to make really hard decisions. and you can trust your doctor.

I am very sorry for your loss. I am not trying to sound callous but the woman lived to be 98 and had alzeimers. How much more do you want? If she was in a nursing home, her quality of life isn't that good. Most people would be lucky to live so long.