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We routinely assume that hydration will make dehydrated people more comfortable. Thus, even when patients are dying of cancer and can no longer eat or drink, a decision to withhold parenteral fluids can seem cruel.
Researchers evaluated whether hydration improved comfort by randomizing terminal cancer patients with mild-to-moderate dehydration who were enrolled in hospice care to receive either 1 L of saline daily or a token “placebo” of 100 cc of saline daily, administered subcutaneously in a way that blinded both patients and assessors to assignment. (This technique, known as hypodermoclysis, often is used as a gentle alternative to intravenous fluid administration).
By day 4, most patients in both groups reported feeling better on a compos…