Does anyone know how long a patient has to live once morphine is administered to prevent pain during end stage vascular dementia?

Just a quick update, my FIL passed away in the early hours on Friday morning. I am very sad but also relieved that he is now at peace and not suffering.

Just a bit more information. I was on a morphine drip myself, in hospital the night after abdominal surgery. It certainly wasn’t lethal, as you can tell. Its effect depends on the quantity of morphine and the basic health issues of the patient. The quantity of morphine is intended to be in line with the level of pain. If the patient is dying and their body is in the process of closing down, the sedative effect of narcotics would make it quicker. I get the impression that hospice sometimes is a bit heavy handed with the morphine, and death comes more quickly than expected. This can be a shock to the family, and lead people to believe that hospice is a quick death sentence (which certainly isn’t its purpose).

I am fairly sure that the locum doctor overdid the morphine for my mother, which contributed to her death in 24 hours. My mother would have died in a day or two anyway, and I’m glad she had no cancer pain, which came on quite suddenly at the end. Faced with this again, I would question hospice about how much pain and so how much morphine is appropriate. If the patient is not in pain, I would not be happy about heaps of morphine. But I would not argue if they say they really can’t tell.

If he's not eaten for 2 weeks and had no fluids for 8 days, I'm surprised he's still alive now. My dad passed away very shortly after this started (a week or less.)

My mom lived about three days after morphine was given. She had been eating well up until the last two days when she was so knocked out from the morphine that she couldn't stay awake long enough to eat. We didn't want her in pain so there was nothing left to do. Her breathing started to sound a bit raspy but the doctor said she was stable so we left - later that night she passed away.

It appears your FIL is close to death. I was told a person can only live 10-14 days w/o food or water. After being in a coma for 14 days with no IV's, per her living will and DNR, my wife's system just shut down. She was never in pain. Hospice will make sure his death is w/o pain and peaceful.

At EOL or End of Life breathing will change. There are secretions that build up and can cause a "wet" sound. If the secretions are right in the mouth you can clear them with a swab but do not try to clear secretions in the throat as this can cause gagging.
There are other signs that indicate when death is closer, there are changes to the skin this is called Mottling. there is another breathing change called cheynes stokes this is an uneven breathing with stops between breaths (almost like sleep apnea)
Given the fact that no food has been taken in for 2 weeks and no water for 8 I would think death would be soon. (Unless the person is being given IV fluids.)
Since dad is on Hospice you can also ask for someone to be with you if you have no other family around. There are Volunteers that will sit Vigil. Please contact your Hospice Team they are there to help.

Do you mean that the patient's breathing has changed in nature over the last few hours?

Surely there are medical and/or nursing personnel on hand for you to ask about this?

I assume he is on hospice. The levels of morphine administered are not lethal. He will pass on his own time table. Talk with hospice they may be able to give you an idea.

I think it depends on the morphine dose, which depends on the amount of pain. If your patient isn't in pain at the moment, I'm not sure that morphine would be major. Morphine is not lethal itself.