End-of-life care: Pain control carries risk of being called a killer Accusations of euthanasia are common as patients, families and even other health professionals struggle to adjust to the new realities of end-of-life care. By Kevin B. O'Reilly, amednews staff. Posted April 16, 2012. Three decades after hospice emerged as the standard of care for terminally ill patients, the end-of-life treatments that palliative medicine physicians provide are frequently referred to as murder, euthanasia and killing.More than half of hospice and palliative medicine physicians say patients, family members and even other health professionals have used those terms to describe care they...