End-stage Metastatic Lung Cancer in Patient Safety, Preventive & Ethics — 82yo Man | Ethics | SMLE Q#1119
SMLE Question #1119
Patient Safety, Preventive & Ethics
Ethics
Last updated: February 2026
An 82-year-old man with end-stage metastatic lung cancer is receiving home palliative care. He has severe pain despite regularly scheduled opioids. His family requests increasing the opioid dose to improve comfort and sleep. The clinician’s intent is to relieve suffering, and respiratory depression is a foreseeable adverse effect of escalating opioids. Which ethical principle best describes this situation?
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