op-ed: Dying At Home For A Smoke

When someone goes to a hospice they have run out of options. One hospice in York has lost some of those patients when they imposed a blanket wide smoking ban.Some terminal patients won't face death without their smokes.

Ananova reports that St Leonard's Hospice imposed the no smoking rule in July. Since then it has lost some of its terminal patients who would rather smoke and die at home than deal with nicotine attacks and die in the comfort of the hospice. Doctors and trustees do not favor the smoking ban.

Dr Brian McGregor, vice chairman of the York Local Medical Committee, said: "The physician in me would never want to encourage smoking, but for somebody for whom medicine has failed, I can't see the logic in banning it.

"They are bed-bound, they are not able to enjoy food and drink and smoking is one of the few pleasures they have left.

"Smoking will not make any impact on their health now and I don't think we should be making them more unhappy by banning it."

The hospice though is not planning on reversing their stand. They consulted with staff, patients, visitors, service users and external organisations before making their final decision.

"The decision was not made lightly but, as a healthcare organisation, we felt it appropriate to embrace the legislation.

"We are confident that our staff, patients and visitors will appreciate the change and will support us in its implementation."

My mother died at home while using a hospice's services. I can't imagine her being denied her cigarettes during that time. There were moments that were extremely stressful. Had she been going for additional treatments that would have been one matter but she wasn't and knew her death was coming. While it is true that cigarettes are not healthy denying someone during their last days a smoke seems almost cruel.