My mum as had a syringe driver put in today she as pancreatic cancer and the end nurses said its cos she can't swollow her medication which she can't.so I think it's giving her her pain relief when she needs it don't think it makes them pass over quicker it's just so they can have their medication n not be in any pain so they are pain free when they pass over n dye . Hope this helps you lv ️ ️

Hi, my friend Louise lost her dad to cancer a couple of years ago and he was in horrendous pain and there was a shortage of syringe drivers in our area. He finally got one when someone died and it was no longer needed by them. It made all the difference and I remember Louise saying she wished he had it sooner to ease his pain. A year later we have set up ngnpuk and we are fundraising in our area to buy these machines. We have bought four so far and have just raised enough to buy another two when required. We met with the nurses last week and they explain that these are used if you cannot swallow so you don't necessarily have to be dying as they can be used to administer antisickness drugs. They are amazing machines and no one would ever suffer x

Sam.

Hi my mum died this month have to say I have been beating myself up thinking I allowed the nurse to use the driver too soon, as I feel that was the end and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, when the nurse first administered it, mum as sleeping but when he woke she was staring at the ceiling and nit talking then more was administered and she died within a few hours, the thing that makes me think the driver was the end fir mum almost the same thing happened to a dear friend.

the nurse tried to assure me it wasnt my decision to make er administrating to he driver,

I lost my dad 9 weeks ago  he had brain tumers and was in hospital he was in no pain and was eating and drinking .on the Wednesday he had a little headache so he had a small dose of morphine on the thurday they were giving him small doses by mouth .on the Thursday night I sat with him until 11pm he was fine when I left him.on the Friday lunchtime he was sitting in bed being fed his lunch first time he had to be fed and he was very tired looking I know now it was the drugs they were giving him.I said dad how you feeling today and he said he was as happy as the flowers in May.the nurse's then told me they were putting the driver in I started crying but felt that I couldn't question a doctor's decision I was confused I want bk and kissed my dad and told him I loved him when I went bk a few hours later oh my god what we had to watch was horrific dark brown liquid coming out of dad's mouth that had to be pumped out with a machine this went on for 2 days it was that bad I fainted at his bedside he looked like he was in pain and I felt like he was locked inside himself and couldn't move when the priest came to see him my dad was tring to move and talk when he heard the Lord's prayer .on the same day just before I saw him take his last breath there was tears in his eyes and he was trying to make noices.I could go on forever the thing is I shouldn't have left them put the driver in because if the truthe be told the nhs took my father's life and I can't forgive myself or them he was palliative care and I think that's why they did it but no one will give me answers.I'm in so much pain that iv turned to writing on this site if never done anything like this before I'm not even on Facebook or any social media.but when I'm strong enough I'm going to get legal advice so this never happens to any one else. God bless you dad.

As there seem to be some misconceptions around regarding syringe drivers I thought it might be useful to repost this :

Syringe drivers are merely a way of administering drugs in a continuous and controlled way - they don't make the drugs work any differently than taking them orally or by other injection routes. People can be on them for months if that is the best way to receive drugs. There are a few reasons to use a syringe driver:

Problems in swallowing or tolerating drugs taken by mouth

To replace regular injections of drugs

To give a very consistent effect - eg for pain killers etc - drug level doesn't in the same way as seperate doses.

They are not used to hasten death, but to make people comfortable in the last stages of their lives.

Hope that helps

Luke (a pharmacist so I have a bit of knowledge on this subject)

Read more at www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../syringe-drivers-did-it-speed-up-my-mum-passing-away

Thank you luke for taking the time to reply and I beleive that the driver might be ok in some cases where the patient is not eating or drinking and they are near the end but my dad wasn't ready for the driver I found out that it wasn't the doctor that authorised the driver it was the head nurse at hospital I didn't think nurse's could do that. I'm seeing my doctor today as I can't cope with how my dad died and thank you again

Hello Isabella,

I am one of the nurses and our moderators wondered if there was anything that we could say that might help at this difficult time. To be honest I am not sure that there is much that I can add to what Luke has already said. Also as we were not involved in your dad’s care I am afraid that we cannot say much about the decisions that were made. But  I am sorry to learn that you are upset about his care.

You mentioned that you are seeing your GP. I hope that this was useful, for you. It is not unusual to feel pain and distress for quite some time after the loss of a loved one.  Talking can help a little.  Therefore if you think it might be useful you are very welcome to call the nurse team directly to talk about things. Our freephone number is 0808 800 4040 and we are here from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am to 5pm.

Take care,

Jean.

Hi Isabella,

I'm so sorry to hear about the trauma your Dad suffered at the end of his life and that you had to witness it. 

Luke has already given you a good explanation about what syringe drivers are and how they work. I don't think the syringe driver itself would have made any difference, but there are other questions you could ask your GP which might help explain why your Dad had such an awful experience. 

In your place I'd ask why his condition deteriorated so rapidly, were the drugs changed after the syringe driver was used, was he being given sufficient fluids, what exactly was the brown liquid in his mouth and what caused it, has there has been a Post Mortem exam - if there has been one did this reveal anything unexpected and finally did anything go wrong with your Dad's treatment? These may seem obvious but difficult questions to ask, but asking them is probably the only way you'll get the answers you need. 

I know how devastating it is to lose a parent to cancer, but losing your Dad under such circumstances must be truly awful. 

I hope you get the answers you need. Nothing will make things any better but knowing what, if anything, went wrong might help you get through the next few days and might help save someone else from going through a similar experience.

Best wishes

Dave

Thank you for taking the time to reply I have spoken to my doctor a few times about my dad's death and he believes that questions need to be answered .I have spoken to the doctor that was attending to my dad and she got a bit annoyed with me asking questions I then spoke to the head nurse and she alsolooked uncomfortable when I asked why the driver was givin so suddenly.she said the brownish fluids was blood coming from somewhere my poor dad was fine b 4 he got the driver.no there was no postmortom done as my dad was terminal .my dad's death was so awful and I never want that to happen to anyone ever again so I have made a decision to go to a solicitor and ask him to help me get answers because the people involved won't give me a straight answer I'm also going to be getting counciling as I won't take medication. even the hospital staff said it was the worst they had seen in 30years. I feel in my heart so strong that something's wasn't right . Thank you