Choking while sleeping?

Question

My father recently passed away due to 'kidney failure' ( on dilaysis for 6 years). His last vsits to his kidney doctor was not a good one and recommeneded palitive care and hospice, which we did at home. For 2 weeks he progressively got worse. He was prescribed liquid morphine for pain. The hospice nurse told us to "keep him on a schedule on every 4 hours, or else its hard to catch up with the pain and can became a bear". In following the schedule we set our alarms to awake him in the middle of the night to give him an oral injection. The night he died, it was difficult to wake him and he was not fully awake when I injected it into his mouth. Nurse advised to inject under tongue as it will dissolve. It was hard to do that, and I don't believe all of it made it under his tongue. Is it possible he choked to death in his sleep? (.75ML was given that night), or maybe a possible overdose due to his kidneys. Please help as I can't stop thinking I made a mistake.

Answer 1

ok, the actual event that caused his inevitable passing will never be known so dont think u are the reason for him dying. his bad kidneys are to blame, not u. yes it is possible for people to aspirate in sleep (meaning the person breathes something other than air into his/her lungs). however, keep in mind u were not committing an act of violence. you were giving him a peaceful death instead of one full of torture from the pain. he would have thanked u if he had been able, trust me.

Answer 2

No, please don't worry. Your father naturally produced much more than .75mL of saliva and did not choke. If you say he was getting progressively worse, please don't blame yourself. The first red flag is that you had a hard time waking him. This indicates, based on your story, that he did not have much time left and your injection was unrelated to his death.

It's absolutely natural to blame yourself but in this case, you were merely a witness to his last few moments. I'm very sorry for this. I experienced the same thing with my own father.

Answer 3

No, and no.

.75 ml isn't a strong dose of morphine.

If he had choked, you would have heard him cough.

Answer 4

First I would like to say I am sorry. It is so much harder to deal with hospice in you home.  But I am a nurses aid and in nursing school. I have been working with hospice and palliative care for about 5 years. I don't think you made a mistake. When a person is prescribed liquid morphine and put on a every 4hr schedule, that is half to help with pain and half to keep them from suffering. Some one with kidney failure is going to swell a lot and eventually drown to death, with or without the meds. Who want to drown, so the meds keep them in a comfortable state, and it makes the dying process a little easier for them and you. It is a different picture if he would not have had the meds. So NO I would have done the same thing in your shoes. Be glad you helped him go peacefully.