I read Dr. Unger's letter referring to our article entitled "Management of Life-Threatening Asthma in Children: A Preliminary Study of the Use of Morphine in Respiratory Failure" (Am J Dis Child 123:533-540, 1972). Dr. Unger states in his letter that he read an abstract of our paper entitled "Morphine Therapy for Status Asthmaticus."
The title he gave for our paper is completely erroneous and misleading. The correct title appears in the first sentence of this reply. If, indeed, Dr. Unger received any misleading information derived from an abstract and not from our original paper, he should have at least read our paper carefully before writing his letter.
We stress in our paper that the "risks of using morphine for the usual acute asthmatic attack are well-known" (p 539), and that this drug should be used only in asthmatic patients with respiratory failure in conjunction with mechanical ventilation. The use