Brief Answer: Do nothing to aid, do nothing to aggressive treat! Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so much for this query. I am so sorry to hear about what your mom is going through. I can imagine what it feels like to watch your mom battle with a terminal disease like this. Stay strong and show as much love and care as you can to her. That is what matters most to her, knowing she is surrounded by wonderful people. When a disease is terminal, we resolve to hospice care. This is the best acceptable way of making the transition easier for the patient and the family. Here we manage the clients for their symptoms and we do not treat for any other disease condition. In this case, if she is in pain, she would resolve as much medications as needed to stay free of pains irrespective of whether it depresses her breathing. Also, she would not receive any medications for low potassium, high blood pressure, etc. This is because trying to correct all of these abnormalities with no longterm prospects of getting anything significant out of them is really not the way to go. In medicine doing nothing is ethically accepted. In this way, things would follow their natural path and you would no feel guilty of having assisted in the death of your mother. It will be a better way than doing something actively to ease her passing. In all, relieve her of every symptom and carry out no aggressive management for any disease condition. The natural evolution of low potassium and other abnormalities would be sooner than later. If you could talk to a hospice service or ask her doctors about this, it would be very helpful in making most of the decisions. I am so sorry for this. I feel your pain and I wish you the best in these very difficult days. May you find the strength to stay positive and strong. Show her as much love as you can and let her depart knowing she had the best of persons around her. Thanks for using our services and do feel free to ask for more information and clarifications if needed. Dr. Ditah, MD.

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