End of Life: The Shot

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
We had Alida's extended family over the weekend, and since there are several elderly among them we talked about end of life issues, wills, estates, etc.

She has a nephew in NY that has been transferred to Hospice homecare there. I mentioned nothing like Hospice existed here and said I heard there was "The Shot" given to terminally ill to end their suffering.

Nobody had heard of this, and these are an educated, multi-generational family from Santiago and the campo around Janico, Juncalito and San Jose de las Matas. In fact, some were appaled at the concept. They looked at me like I were Dr. Kervorkian.

Can someone knowledgeable discuss "The Shot?" What is it called? Where is it used? How is it obtained? What is the chemical makeup?

Are there some links where it is discussed?
 

DR Solar

Bronze
Nov 21, 2016
1,626
365
83
We have had relatives in Hospice also and though still difficult, they were/are wonderful.

I don't know if this will help but I'll post anyway. We had to put down 2 of our horses last year and our Vet. in S.D. sent us some really strong and fast acting liquid in a vile for us to inject. Both horses went down fast and passed quickly, under 10 minutes and didn't appear to have too much stress/pain but that we will never know for sure. I guess we disposed of the vile so can not tell you anymore.

Not easy to plan but ... I think that having the knowledge is needed. Let us know what you find out.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
Never heard of " the shot ".
What I have heard of, in my campo, is a person/family member/ relative/etc..... that will " facilitate" the passage from one state to another, if u gather my meaning.
Probably just hersay, mind you.
But I have noticed that when people are sent back home from hospital, to die that is, well they do seem to die relatively quickly.......... living conditions ? End of professional medication/treatement ( as it was in hospital ) ? Or something else,?
 

mobrouser

Bronze
Jan 1, 2002
2,339
98
48
Robert, I remember Lindsay discussing this in her Saucepans book.

I was going to reply earlier saying that I believe both Matilda and ww have threads in the forums which touch on the Dominican "shot". As I recall it is not difficult to obtain if you know the right people.
 

caribmike

Gold
Jul 9, 2009
6,808
202
63
Mmh. Having this done as a foreigner? Not sure. Autopsy for foreigners passing away here as a rule? The person who does you the favor would be in big trouble or?
 

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
5,485
338
63
Yes I discuss it in Life After My Saucepans. Common among the poor who cannot afford the meds for someone who is terminally ill and often requested by relatives who fly in from Nuevo Yol when parents have had a stroke and can't afford much time off. The middle and upper classes don't use it as they have the cash to pay for meds, ICU, hospital care, pain relief. Easy to get, doesn't cost much.

Matilda
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
Yes I discuss it in Life After My Saucepans. Common among the poor who cannot afford the meds for someone who is terminally ill and often requested by relatives who fly in from Nuevo Yol when parents have had a stroke and can't afford much time off. The middle and upper classes don't use it as they have the cash to pay for meds, ICU, hospital care, pain relief. Easy to get, doesn't cost much.

Matilda
My surprise is that folks from the campo had never heard of it, and were frankly appaled.

Is it a regional thing?

I do believe it exists and was surprised they were surprised.
 

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
5,485
338
63
Not all Dominicans know of it - especially the strong Catholics who wait for God to do his will. I have seen it with my own eyes in Esperanza, and two cases in my campo here. In all case the family came in from New York and did not want to hang around for weeks. Also used in the poor barrios in Santo Domingo like Los Alcarrizos.From what I understand comes in three parts, one to relax, one to go to sleep and one to stop the heart.

Matilda
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
Not all Dominicans know of it - especially the strong Catholics who wait for God to do his will. I have seen it with my own eyes in Esperanza, and two cases in my campo here. In all case the family came in from New York and did not want to hang around for weeks. Also used in the poor barrios in Santo Domingo like Los Alcarrizos.From what I understand comes in three parts, one to relax, one to go to sleep and one to stop the heart.

Matilda
That's the same protocol that execution by lethal injection uses.

So it's more prevalent among the lower and non-religious classes. I'm surprised they have not heard of it even if they disapprove.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i have never heard of it and we had a pharmacy that catered to the poor. logically it's possible that it refers to injectable cloruro de potasio (potassium chloride).
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
i have never heard of it and we had a pharmacy that catered to the poor. logically it's possible that it refers to injectable cloruro de potasio (potassium chloride).
That's most likely the last drug injected.
 

USA DOC

Bronze
Feb 20, 2016
3,162
757
113
Yes I discuss it in Life After My Saucepans. Common among the poor who cannot afford the meds for someone who is terminally ill and often requested by relatives who fly in from Nuevo Yol when parents have had a stroke and can't afford much time off. The middle and upper classes don't use it as they have the cash to pay for meds, ICU, hospital care, pain relief. Easy to get, doesn't cost much.

Matilda
...yes the lack of pain meds is the big one..watching one of those people right now...wondering how the family will end the suffering from his cancer, as they cant buy pain meds..........Doc......
 

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
5,485
338
63
This is just a little excerpt from the first time I came across it. Mods feel free to delete if not allowed. Lala was a diabetic 80 year old next door neighbour.

"Then Lala had a stroke. She was taken to the local clinic and from there transferred to the public hospital in Santiago, which was around an hour away. Every day I would ask her husband, Michael, and her daughter, Chivirico’s stepmother, how she was. Her husband said he had spoken to the doctors who said it could go two ways. She would get better or she would get worse. I couldn’t argue with that.
A week or so after that, I heard screaming and shouting from Lala’s house and assumed she had died. The street was full of people scampering along to her house, and I asked Danilo to go and check what had happened. Within a few minutes he came back.
“Her brain is there, but it no work. She cannot move arms and legs. Hospital send her home to die in house. She die soon. Maybe tomorrow maybe next day.”
“Does she have a nurse with her? Who will take care of her? Has she got a drip? Medicines?”
“The family help. No need for nurse or doctor. She will die soon.”
It all seemed brutal to me, no pain relief, no special care. And Lala surprised them all.
I went to see her every day, three or four times a day. No way was she brain dead. Her little wooden house was always full as her myriad children returned from various parts of the country, and indeed the world, to see her. The men sat outside on the terrace, and the women sat inside in the living area. There was rarely anyone in the bedroom with Lala, unless the priest came, when they all crammed into her little bedroom to pray.
When I went into see her she was lying flat, with no pillow. She was snoring gently, her hair spread out on the pillow around her and with a feeding tube in her nose. She was dressed in the same nightie she always wore and covered with a sheet. It was stifling hot in the room, and the fan she usually had in her bedroom was keeping her children cool in the living room.
I sat next to her on the bed and squeezed her hand. She opened her eyes and seemed to focus on me, so I sat chatting to her as I usually did, telling her about Chivirico’s recent exploits. I asked her to squeeze my hand if she could hear me and I swear she did. I walked back into the living room.
“Listen, I am sure Lala may recover. All you have to do is sit her up a little so her chest doesn’t become congested, and sit and talk to her. Try and exercise her arms and legs as well.” They looked at me as if I was a raving nutter, and went back to their conversation and I heard the words “gringa loca” as they muttered under their breath.
I continued to see her every day, three or four times a day, and each time she was lying flat again, and each time I asked them to sit her up and talk to her. I could tell the family were becoming restless and wanting to return to their homes – almost as if they wanted her to hurry up and die.
It was a Wednesday, around a week after Lala had returned home and I called in to see her on the way to the colmado. She was the same. Flat on her back again. I sat and chatted for a while, holding her hand and stroking her hair. One of her sons who had arrived said he had asked a doctor from the local private clinic to come and see her at 4pm. I went again at 2pm. Her breathing was fine, her pulse was strong, she squeezed my hand.
“I’ll call in and see you later, once the doctor has been,” I said to her as I walked out.
At 4.30pm I was sitting in my house working on my computer and I heard a dreadful wail, and then more and more and more. Screaming and howling. The street was full of people running to Lala’s house. Lala was dead. I couldn’t believe she had died, as a couple of hours earlier she had been fine.
I ran around to the house.
“What on earth happened?” I asked her son from New York. “She was fine a couple of hours ago.”
“The doctor came and gave her an injection,” he replied, calmly.
“What injection? What was in it?”
“No se. I don’t know,” he answered, and turned away to speak to someone else.
Dominicans, on the whole, trust doctors implicitly and never ask what medicines they are being given, nor what injections they are having. Lala’s family just let the doctor inject her without knowing what it was. They said they still didn’t know. Twenty minutes later she was dead.

I will always wonder what was in that injection.Danilo told me it often happened when the family came from Nuevo Yol and only had a couple of days holiday, that if the parent did not die as quickly as expected, they did not believe in prolonging their holiday as they had to get back for work. Therefore the parent was ‘put to sleep’. I was to learn more about this practice as the years passed.
RIP Lala.

Matilda
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
Matilda
Would you clarify the 'wail - screaming & howling' that came from the house?

Was it Lala or just what we know & love as good old Dominican grief and sorrow at the loss.??