Geriatric Physician Mock Interview

Practice 25 Geriatric Physician interview questions covering clinical judgment, polypharmacy, and patient-centered care.

Question 24 of 25

If your patient is terminal and is at home with Hospice in terrible pain, how do you feel about medicating him or her for pain relief if you know it will hasten death?

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Audra Kresinske

Audra Kresinske is an educator with over 7 years experience teaching English and employment readiness skills.

This is really a commonsense question disguised as a dilemma. It isn't really a dilemma though, and it is asked to see if you know the difference between 'above all, do no harm' and 'do what is needed'.

Audra Kresinske

Audra Kresinske is an educator with over 7 years experience teaching English and employment readiness skills.

"In the case of someone who is at home dying, I have the responsibility to keep him or her comfortable, even if that means providing medication that could shorten life. Pain is harm, and 'do no harm' should therefore mean to not allow unnecessary pain or any pain at all, especially if such treatment will not change the ultimate result: death. For a terminal patient, death is inevitable, whether it is today or tomorrow. What matters most is if there's agony for another day until their inevitable death."

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