News (Media Awareness Project) - Australia: Professor Says Cancer Should Be Pain Free |
| Title: | Australia: Professor Says Cancer Should Be Pain Free |
| Published On: | 1998-04-02 |
| Source: | The Mercury |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-07 12:45:22 |
PROFESSOR SAYS CANCER SHOULD BE PAIN FREE
DOCTORS who say nothing more can be done to ease their patient's pain are
wrong, an international cancer specialist told a national medical
conference in Hobart yesterday.
"The most dangerous thing and the most damming thing that the doctor can
ever say is that there is nothing more that can be done," University of
Wales palliative medicine professor Ilora Finlay said.
"I think it happens more often than it should because of ignorance."
Professor Finlay openly opposed euthanasia, claiming it was an easy way out
for lazy medical professionals who had not tried hard enough to balance
their patient's pain relief medication.
"I just don't trust my colleagues, it's too dangerous," Professor Finlay
said of euthanasia.
A keynote speaker at the Australian Pain Society's annual national
conference at Wrest Point, Professor Finlay has conducted extensive trials
into the use of opoids to relieve pain in cancer patients in the UK.
"About one third of Australians will get cancer and about a quarter of
Australians will die of cancer and people are terrified of pain," she said.
"But 95 per cent of pain is very, very easily treated. The other 5 per cent
is more difficult but can be managed.
"Pain is actually very easily controlled but often people aren't aware of
just how much can be done.
"And patients think that nothing can be done so they don't say I want a
second opinion.
"Patients should be saying I want to see a specialist in palliative medicine.
"I've looked after about 11,000 dying patients and I haven't come across
anybody who had said that they wanted to die and where that had remained as
a persistent wish when we had sorted their problems out.
"Morphine is an excellent pain reliever and fentanyl (an opoid derivative
applied in the form of a patch on the skin) is brilliant."
Professor Finlay also strongly advocates teaching children about cancer in
a family member, saying that failure to do so was to risk children
developing serious guilt problems in the belief they had caused the disease.
DOCTORS who say nothing more can be done to ease their patient's pain are
wrong, an international cancer specialist told a national medical
conference in Hobart yesterday.
"The most dangerous thing and the most damming thing that the doctor can
ever say is that there is nothing more that can be done," University of
Wales palliative medicine professor Ilora Finlay said.
"I think it happens more often than it should because of ignorance."
Professor Finlay openly opposed euthanasia, claiming it was an easy way out
for lazy medical professionals who had not tried hard enough to balance
their patient's pain relief medication.
"I just don't trust my colleagues, it's too dangerous," Professor Finlay
said of euthanasia.
A keynote speaker at the Australian Pain Society's annual national
conference at Wrest Point, Professor Finlay has conducted extensive trials
into the use of opoids to relieve pain in cancer patients in the UK.
"About one third of Australians will get cancer and about a quarter of
Australians will die of cancer and people are terrified of pain," she said.
"But 95 per cent of pain is very, very easily treated. The other 5 per cent
is more difficult but can be managed.
"Pain is actually very easily controlled but often people aren't aware of
just how much can be done.
"And patients think that nothing can be done so they don't say I want a
second opinion.
"Patients should be saying I want to see a specialist in palliative medicine.
"I've looked after about 11,000 dying patients and I haven't come across
anybody who had said that they wanted to die and where that had remained as
a persistent wish when we had sorted their problems out.
"Morphine is an excellent pain reliever and fentanyl (an opoid derivative
applied in the form of a patch on the skin) is brilliant."
Professor Finlay also strongly advocates teaching children about cancer in
a family member, saying that failure to do so was to risk children
developing serious guilt problems in the belief they had caused the disease.
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