Virginia Mason is the place that my mother was in for two weeks prior to her death. Despite the fact that she wanted her pain medication on a regular schedule (i.e., every four hours) they made her tell them each time she needed it. Then they took another hour to get there with it. Soooooo. . . she cycled through pain, pain relief that included a long nap, a groggy awakening, a period when she felt okay, then pain and having to wait for the meds again. This was dilaudid for the end stage of terminal metastasized breast cancer, and it didn't have to be this way if it was on a regular schedule. She was so disgusted with the whole thing she finally refused anything they wanted to give her, and was moved to an intermediate care facility where she died a couple of days later. She didn't even survive to get to hospice, where they would have at the very least managed the pain properly.

Virginia Mason isn't alone in this practice, but for whatever reason they were practicing it, I think we were all disgusted with their lack of thoughtful treatment. One wouldn't call this "care."

SRS