In India, a Quest to Ease the Pain of the Dying

Ana Escalante — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:14:42 -0500

September 11, 2007 - 09:00, New York Times

Story Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/health/11pain.html?8dpc=&pagewanted=print

Teaser:
It was a neighbor screaming in pain 35 years ago that set Dr. M. R. Rajagopal on the path to his nickname: India’s "father of palliative care."

"He was dying of cancer, with lots of tumors on his face and scalp," Dr. Rajagopal recalled. "His family asked if I could help, and I couldn’t — I was just a medical student."

TRIVANDRUM, India — It was a neighbor screaming in pain 35 years ago that set Dr. M. R. Rajagopal on the path to his nickname: India’s "father of palliative care."

"He was dying of cancer, with lots of tumors on his face and scalp," Dr. Rajagopal recalled. "His family asked if I could help, and I couldn’t — I was just a medical student."

Today, the same neighbor with the same cancer would almost certainly die the same way — unless he lived in tiny Kerala State, where Dr. Rajagopal runs his Pallium India clinic here in the capital. Although opium was one of the chief exports of British India and the country still produces more for the legal morphine industry than any other country, few Indians benefit. They end up like millions of the world’s poor — spending their last days writhing in agony, wishing death would hurry.

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In India, a Quest to Ease the Pain of the Dying