Photo by James Heilman, MD. Wikimedia Commons
Our troubles with midazolam: a story of death, dying and a powerful drug
Are powerful sedatives being over-used in palliative care and aged care? Our observations of the apparent effects of the sedative midazolam on our fathers, who both died from cancer a week apart in October 2018, have left us with some questions. Midazolam is a powerful benzodiazepine drug, very widely used in a variety of medical applications. Although midazolam has no analgesic properties, it was repeatedly described to us as a “breakthrough drug”, implying that it was being used to suppress spikes in pain above the level the prescribed doses of painkillers could handle. We believe this…