Under the first of these, for a physician or other caregiver to extend mercy to a suffering patient may mean to refrain from procedures that cause further suffering-provided, of course, that the treatment offers the patient no overriding benefits. In many such cases, the patient will die whether or not the treatments are performed. The principle of mercy may also demand letting die in a still stronger sense. Under its second component, the principle asserts a duty to act to end suffering that is already occurring. Given modern medical technology and recent remarkable advances in pain management, the sufferings of the morally wounded and dying can It is flatly incorrect to say that all pain, including pain in terminal illness, is or can be controlled.
Some people still die in unspeakable agony.
With superlative care, many kinds of pain can indeed be reduced in many patients, and adequate control ncy may mean an agonizing final few hours.