PHYSICAL
COMFORT
and EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
"And then I asked the nurse, could she give [my mother]
something for the pain, that [the doctor] said he left instructions
for it. And he had not left any instructions for any kind of
pain. …The nurses called him, and he didn't want to give
her anything. And, I said, "Well, you know, she cannot
suffer like this. I am NOT putting up with this! Not lying there
in the bed, can't help herself, and hurting!" And so I
called her doctor, and I told him that she was going to have
to have something and I was just going to call hospice if he
couldn't give her something. And he hung up on me. And so, that
made me mad! You know, because I'm not having any help at ALL
here. And, so I called hospice. …Before [the doctor] hung
up on me, though, I said, you know, "If you can't help
her, I'm just going to get someone who can." And so, I
just…left instructions, I didn't want him checking her
or [to] have anything else to do with her care any longer. So,…the
other doctor and hospice came immediately."
-daughter of a woman in her 80s with cancer
