“Do you feel pain under terminal anesthesia?”
My grandmother is in hospice and we decided, as a family, that she'll have terminal anesthesia because she can't recover from her condition at all. Will she feel any pain?
1 Answer
Terminal anesthesia is not a term that I am familiar with. However, if the patient is anesthetized, they would be unconscious. Pain is a conscious phenomenon and as such she would not experience pain. Once the patient is rendered unconscious, there should be no awareness. Keep in mind the patient is not having surgery and as such there should be nothing to cause pain. The typical use of "anesthesia" is to make the patient unaware of stimuli that might be painful. Many times in end of life situations, medications are used to render the patient unconscious. The amount of drug given to the patient will determine when they pass on. Anesthesia given to patients who are not having procedures performed have no stimulation to balance the effects of the drugs being given. If the patient is not monitored, you will not see the drop in blood pressure, heart rate and eventually the drop in oxygen levels and the increase in carbon dioxide levels. Together all these things will lead to the end of life.
I hope this helps.
I hope this helps.
