Continuing Professional Development: Highlighting the law and ethics of pain relief in end-of-life patients

After completing this module the paramedic will be able to:

If you would like to send feedback, please email jpp@markallengroup.com

The world of palliative medicine is rapidly becoming a fixture in the paramedic field of practice, and with its proposed inclusion into the UK Ambulance Services Clinical Practice Guidelines (Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), 2013), it is time for paramedics to inform themselves about the ethics and laws surrounding pain relief for end-of-life patients.

Many healthcare professionals and clinicians working in palliative care believe that failing to address the pain and suffering of terminally ill patients violates two main ethical principles of care. Firstly, the ethical principle of beneficence, whereby failing to relieve a person's pain does not constitute helping the dying patient, and secondly, the ethical principle of non-maleficence, where through the non-treatment of pain, actual harm can be caused to the patient as well as to the loved ones that care for them.