The Webster Dictionary lists this adjective as one indicating the condition of “affording solace and delight”, where the affording part is used within the meaning of “carry out”; not the common use of this verb connected with monetary issues, although they may very well come into play within the process of dispensing comfort. However, when referring to medical care situations, the “delight” part is certainly missing and the “solace” one also might not be applicable at all, especially for the meaning concerning “alleviation of anxiety”. In fact, the extreme aggravation of any initial anxiety seems to be the single most obvious result of standard medical care, mostly in the case of cancer patients, who through mortal fear (also viewed as anxiety to the maximum degree) are literally forced into accepting barbaric treatments as the only possibility for survival.

Such treatments, often identified as the "Deadly Threesome," should have disappeared from this planet a long time ago, and are also the major causes of extreme pain suffered by patients. In other words, after making the patient suffer beyond the acceptable level, while receiving standard care, the medical system comes to the rescue by “making the patient comfortable” with various types of pain control drugs. It is necessary to emphasize both points: “control” and “drugs”.

Control indicates some form of restraint or limitation, not necessarily elimination. Drugs mean that toxic substances are utilized, whose hidden consequences beyond the main purpose are generally unknown, but always damaging to the normal function of the human body. Of course, when certain chosen drugs are not effective in controlling the pain, other ones are introduced instead of or in addition to the ones initially selected.

Naturally, in most cases, the consequences of combinations and or substitutions are generally not known, because (as in the case of chemotherapeutical compounds) FDA only approves the product for individual use, but does not address the consequences of prescribing possible combinations or sequence of various drugs.

The other problem comes into play when the patients require prolonged use of pain control medications; such drugs basically lower the threshold of pain, therefore leading to an increased and extended need for them; that is what goes by the name of “addiction”, which naturally leads to ever increased use, until not just the pain is dead.

Unfortunately most people interpret medical drug addiction as a condition similar to the one related to the use of illegal drugs; the difference is only apparently minor. In fact, the conditions are actually not similar at all, and one is not as open to a solution as the other one. Rehabilitation only applies to cases where the individual’s body has no other “need” for a drug than having been conditioned to such use.

In case of pain caused by a disease, the pain will not disappear naturally with rehabilitation, and if the condition is not managed in a different way, the patient will eventually succumb to the use of drugs. This is a very well known fact in the medical establishment and it is actually used extensively in the end-of-life care practices. That is where the process of “making the patient comfortable” comes to its extreme and most questionable meaning.

On too many occasions, the health care providers actually assume the role of “God” in determining when the patient’s time to leave this world has arrived and when the Grim Reaper should be welcomed. This might appear as an excessively harsh statement and an unfair conclusion, but unfortunately, we at LASE MED, Inc. have seen this happen far too many times.

The judgement of when a patient cannot be saved and should be made “comfortable” is unfortunately too often unchallenged and left in the hands of health care providers, who believe they have seen and know everything . Therefore they can make a decision on when a particular life should come to an end, in the best interest of the patient, so that he or she can be made “comfortable”.

This is a particularly painful subject for all of us at LASE MED, Inc.; mainly because we celebrate life, and our efforts are directed towards the goal of preserving a patient’s well being and helping the same individual to happily continue a productive existence; but it is also devastating because too many patients who came to us with a very advanced stage of cancer went home with an unquestionably dead growth, but ended up facing unfair attacks and extreme pressures to undo the good results, simply because of the very unsightly appearance of the dead malignant growth.

Even allowing for the fact that most members of the medical establishment have rarely seen what happens to a large growth killed in place with hyperthermia treatment, there is still no excuse to jump to hasty conclusions; and based on appearance only, or inappropriate testing, decide when the patient should be made "comfortable" in an irreversible manner.