Intravenous midazolam hydrochloride is associated with respiratory depression and respiratory arrest, especially when used for sedation in noncritical care settings. When this was not recognised promptly and treated effectively, death or hypoxic encephalopathy can follow.
Knowing that would you use midazolam to treat people who were suffering with pneumonia and respiratory insufficiency allegedly due to Covid-19?
The following is an article published August 7th 2020 by Greg Wray
Our observations of the apparent effects of the sedative midazolam on our fathers, who both died from cancer a week apart in October 2018, have left us with some questions.
Midazolam is a powerful benzodiazepine drug, very widely used in a variety of medical applications. Although midazolam has no analgesic properties, it was repeatedly described to us as a “breakthrough drug”, implying that it was being used to suppress spikes in pain above the level the prescribed doses of painkillers could handle. We believe this terminology is highly misleading.
We ask if this drug is being administered carefully enough, with enough consultation, and with enough consideration of possible negative effects.
I apologise in advance if these questions offend some doctors and nurses, or make other people uncomfortable. We realise the market for this drug is huge and we are not attempting to interfere with a highly profitable business. All we want to do is describe our experiences and respectfully ask our questions.
Significantly, it appears that the prescription of midazolam has spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to allegations in the press that the drug is being used to “control elderly patients in stretched care homes – or even to hasten their deaths”.
According to one recent article in the UK Daily Mail, whistleblowers have claimed they were told to administer the drug to stop confused patients wandering. The article also reports that: “Retired neurologist Professor Patrick Pullicino, who was instrumental in raising concerns a decade ago that the Liverpool Care Pathway was bringing forward patients’ deaths, believes the jump indicated something similar had happened. He said: ‘Midazolam depresses respiration and it hastens death. It changes end-of-life care into euthanasia.’”
This assertion has been disputed. However, it has been reported that the 2015 death in custody of indigenous man David Dungay, whose fate has largely driven some of Australia’s Black Lives Matter protests, stopped breathing and died after being injected with midazolam after refusing an order to stop eating biscuits.
What we have seen has led us to question the use of this powerful drug....<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...
