Extreme Symptom Burden for Patients With COVID-19 at the End of Life; Extrapolation of Knowledge Gained to Achieve Sustained Comfort and Dignity for all Patients in Their Last Days of Life1.

Abstract

Background: We describe two complex cases in the setting of COVID-19 at the End of Life, to enhance learning for all patients.

Case presentation: Maintenance of sustained comfort in two cases required multiple drugs, specifically selected for symptoms that necessitated three separate pumps delivering continuous 24-hour subcutaneous infusion.

Case management: Management of sustained comfort included opioid, midazolam, anti-secretory, diclofenac for intractable temperature, phenobarbital for extreme agitation, in one, where seizure activity was present, while insomnia, was a prominent feature of another. Management of Akatasia was also required.

Case outcome: Attention to each individual patient's rapidly evolving symptoms, during the dying phase, with a thorough differential diagnosis, wa s vitally important in the context of a 'Good Death'. This was achieved in both cases, reflected by evidence at the bedside of comfort and a minimum need for 'as required' drugs in the last days of life.

Conclusions: COVID-19 being a new illness, we need to prospectively study the symptom burden/clustering at End of Life and learn from management of this new disease for other illnesses also. Further research is required to develop protocols on; when does Midazolam dose reach tolerance and when should an alternative drug such as phenobarbital for sustained Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid effects be initiated; examine the optimal approach to sustained temperature control; be cognisant of extrapyramidal side effects of drugs used at End of Life and consider looking at a lack of need for 'as required' drugs in the last days of life as an outcome measure of sustained comfort.