[gotcats]

My 84 yr old grandmother went to hospital Sat by ambulance w/ severe back & chest pains. Tests ruled out heart,bloodclot in lung or back injury. The oxygen level in her blood was very low, 70's,normal should be 90's.They administered morphine in emerg room for pain & admitted her to run more tests & to raise oxygen levels. She received several breathing therapies per day as well as continual morphine. By Tuesday I insisted they discontinue morphine. Wednesday morning she was starting to come out of the fog, her oxygen level had to be lowered several points & she was released w/24 hrs a day oxygen tanks & home care set up. As I was prepareing to help her into wheel chair, one last test was done by pricking her finger. All the sudden red flags went up and a pulmonologist was called in.I waited several hours to meet the pulm dr but finally had to drive home(an hours drive). I received a call around 10pm that she had been given more morphine & had fallen but was okay.They wanted me to come spend the night to help keep her in bed which I did. I waited until 4pm the next day,Thurs but the Dr NEVER came.Again, I requested that no more morphine be given unless she asked for it.
Friday morning I called at 8 am and she sounded like her old self and the dr(that i never met) was in the room telling her she could go home. I arived at 9:30 and she had had another severe pain attack like the one that caused us to call the ambulance 6 days earlier. They had given her the morphine but she was still having severe pain when I arrived. The nurse called the dr but he was gone so she paged the "on call "Dr. It took at least an hour before he called her back. She described my grandmother as having an anxiety attack. Without ever seeing my grandmother he ordered Ativan. The nurse brought in 2 large, full syringes and administered intraveneously one after the other & left the room.
My grandmother immediately changed. She started moaning and grasping in the air. She would settle down for a few minutes then jerk upright as if to get out of the bed. She started pulling on her skin and rubbing her chest in between her breasts. This went on for about an hour then she settled into a more relaxed rest. Light sleep. I stayed several more hours and no dr ever showed up. I left about 6pm.
At 11pm the hospital called that she had died.I learned also that she had been given another dose of morphine at 10pm.
Something stinks about all that morphine,breathing therapy, asthma history, then ativan & death.
Anyone have any insight into this?

[Robert_325]

gotcats ... I am very sorry about your grandmother. Morphine and ativan together definitely can cause respiratory problems, especially with asthma added in to the picture. Not saying it always does, and drs do have to address acute issues. But also add the age of the patient into this picture and I would be concerned too. Go to the top of the page to the "drug interaction checker". You can enter morphine and ativan and read what it says. This is a risky combination of medication for an elderly person with asthma.

[Alaya417]

Hi, I read your post and I am very sorry to hear about your grandma. A few weeks ago I was having asthma symptoms and a panic attack and the ambulance came. I had taken an ativan to calm my panic before they got there, but was still having breathing problems. In the ambulance knowing I had taken an ativan, they gave me morphine. Immediately after having the morphine my body cramped up all over and my breathing worsened. It was the scariest moment, I thought I was a goner. Anyway, I was also wondering if these two drugs are a bad combination, because I thought I was going to die. I don't know why I pulled through maybe it wasn't enough to kill me, but it seemed close. So doctors need to be more careful.

[angief23]

Gotcatz, if you dont mind me asking.. did you ever find out what happened with your grandmother? My Mom recently passed away about a month ago. The doctors said that it was due to her breast cancer that had metastasized into lung cancer. However, the day she was going to be released from the ICU (after a week of recovering from a collapsed lung from an anxiety attack), the nurse gave her ativan and morphine! I remember being the hospital room and she was moving a round a lot and grabbing at her garmet as if she was hot.. similar to how your grandmother was. She already had breathing problems due to the lung cancer and after a day.. she wasn't breathing on her own at all anymore. They had to re-intubate her. She passed away the next day.

I was just wondering if you had asked for doctor records or anything? I'm only 20 years old, but I desperately want to find out if it was malpractice on the doctors side. I would really appreciate it if you had any advice or information as your story sounds very famiiliar. Thank you.