An older adult client with terminal lung cancer is not breathing well and has cold and mottled skin. The client has a living will and requests comfort measures only. What should the nurse do to help this client?
A) Ask the family what they want to be done for the client.
B) Withhold all care until the client dies.
C) Contact the physician for orders to control the client's breathing.
D) Provide the client with pain medication as ordered.
Answer: D
"Comfort measures only" indicates that the client does not want extraordinary measures to sustain life. This does not mean that nursing care ceases but that nursing care to provide client comfort is intensified and maintained through the end stages of the client's life. Nursing care will include the administration of pain medication and providing personal hygiene and nutrition. Asking the family what they want to be done is inappropriate when a client has written a living will. Contacting the physician to intervene to control respiration is considered adding extraordinary measures and is inappropriate, as is going against the client's written wishes when a living will is present and in force.
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