Adequate management of that pain, usually by painkilling medications, is a continuing concern of individual physicians and the entire medical community. In sufficiently large doses, painkilling medication often suppresses the respiratory system and may actually accelerate the patient's death.
Most advocates insist that the physicians' concern about painkiller overdoses is misguided.
They note that there are few cases in which physicians experienced any difficulty from licensing agencies, hospital peer review committees or anyone else for overprescribing pain medications, particularly when treating the terminally ill. Dr. Stan Naramore's case may give doctors new cause for alarm. The Kansas physician recently scored a significant victory in his state's Court of Appeals, but only after a six-year personal nightmare. Dr. Naramore was charged with murder and attempted murder in two unrelated cases arising out of his medical practice in 1992. In one, he was accused of trying to administer a deadly dose of morphine.