Most terminally ill patients die in institutional settings, either hospitals or nursing homes, and many experience severe, untreated pain. A survey published this year of 13,625 nursing home patients with cancer showed that up to 40 percent were in pain daily and 26 percent received no pain medication. Such pain is not only unnecessary but inhumane, experts say. Advances in medical technology and research during the past few years have led most pain management experts to believe that virtually no one should have to suffer the painful deaths so often associated with cancer. June Dahl is a UW professor of pharmacology and a founder of the Wisconsin Cancer Pain Initiative, a grassroots state initiative which has become a model for groups fighting cancer pain throughout the country.
Dahl says lack of pain treatment in cancer patients is nothing less than a moral outrage.
Although Angelo has lost 30 pounds since the pneumonia began, he seems at peace in his living room. He administers his own pain medication. He has never doubted that his pain could be managed without running the risk of addiction. Addiction to pain medication is a big fear among dying patients. According to June Dahl, fear of addiction has made patients reluctant to even report their pain to their doctors.