Views of algology inpatients about ethical issues related to pain

To determine the views of patients hospitalized in the algology clinic about ethical issues related to pain.

A total of 135 patients admitted to the algology clinic comprised the population of this descriptive study. Data were collected using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and the questionnaire on ethical issues related to pain. To evaluate the data, percentage distribution and the Tukey test of variance were used.

Of the patients, 92.6% believed that they had the right to pain relief, and 94.8% believed that they should be consulted when decisions about them were made. It was determined that 43.0% of the patients disagreed with Proposition 1, 'When a terminal-stage cancer patient with unrelievable pain requests an overdose of pain medication, possibly to cause death, the physician must prescribe it,' while 51.9% of the participants disagreed with Proposition 2, 'When a terminal-stage cancer patient with unrelievable pain and his or her family request an overdose of pain medication, possibly to cause death, the physician must prescribe it,' and 44.4% of them disagreed with Proposition 3, 'When a terminal-stage cancer patient with unrelievable pain requests an overdose of pain medication, possibly to cause death even though his or her family refuses, the physician must prescribe it.' A statistically significant relationship (p<0.05) was found between the mean VAS scores and Propositions 1 and 3.

The patients were willing to be informed and to be asked about their views regarding the issue, but they did not want to be prescribed a high dose of pain medication, possibly to cause overdose and death.