euthanasia

Let me ask you.... what is the line between killing someone and withdrawal of care. I understand the idiom of respecting a patients wishes, but how do you know that the wishes remain the same until the end.

My experience is drawn from pt "K", an individual that did not want medical intervention for his terminal illness but was completely lucid and communicative at first. What transcribed was so depressing. First he becomes DNR (do not resuscitate), then we dope him up, stop blood draws, d/c the anti-biotic, and finally stop IV fluids and feeds. The moment he would groan the family would interpret this as a sign of agitation so we slosh him again by knocking him out with more fentanyl (stronger narcotic than morphine). Maybe his groans were wishes that he wants us to save his life or at least feed him. I will never know....he passed away this past Friday.

Since when is a "respecting a patient's (initial) wishes as noble as saving a life", as my attending tells the family. This is not what I signed up for.