Business of Life

Anxiety at the End of Life

Nearly half of the relatives whose loved ones died of cancer wish that hospice care had started earlier. They wanted palliative care - treating the physical, spiritual, and psychological needs of a patient at the end of life sooner.

No doubt they saw the acute anxiety that afflicts some people as they realize the end is near, making their last days more difficult than they need be.    Harvard University recognizes that such anxiety is often treated with sedatives that leaves the dying  disconnected from reality at a time when most want to connect more deeply and lovingly with their family and friends.  The Boston Globe reports Harvard seeks to test ecstasy drug on the dying.

Harvard researchers are preparing for the first time in three decades to conduct human experiments using a psychedelic drug, a study that would seek to harness the mind-altering effects of the drug ecstasy to help ease the crushing psychic burdens faced by dying cancer patients.

In the experiment, 12 terminal cancer patients would be given MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, to determine whether the drug helps alleviate their anxiety. If the results are positive, the Harvard scientists said, they will push forward with large-scale tests that could make end-of-life ecstasy treatments generally available to terminally-ill patients.

....''We're trying to avoid sedating people, to allow them to maintain a good quality of life so they can enjoy the time they have with family and friends," said Shuster, who will select patients from Lahey for the experiment.

Typically, dying patients are given drugs such as valium, which can cloud their minds, or antipsychotics that leave them edgy. In any of these states, said cancer specialists, it becomes difficult to resolve family issues, arrange financial matters, or approach death with a sense of peace and understanding.

....Ethics boards at McLean and the Lahey Clinic, which will provide the patients, have already approved the experiment, as has the US Food and Drug Administration. The Drug Enforcement Agency still must approve the experiment, and Harvard officials said they expected to hear from the agency within weeks.