Palliative sedation

In medicine, specifically in end-of-life care, palliative sedation (also known as terminal sedation, continuous deep sedation, or sedation for intractable distress of a dying patient) is the palliative practice of relieving distress in a terminally ill person in the last hours or days of a dying person's life, usually by means of a continuous intravenous or subcutaneous infusion of a sedative drug, or by means of a specialized catheter designed to provide comfortable and discreet administration of ongoing medications via the rectal route. Sometimes palliative sedation results in only a light unconsciousness, in which the patient may still be somewhat aware of the presence of others. In other cases it results in a deep unconsciousness, like coma. As of 2013, approximately tens of millions of people a year were unable to resolve their needs of physical, psychological, or spiritual suffering at their time of death. Due to the amount of pain a dying person may face, palliative care is considered important. Proponents claim palliative sedation can provide a more peaceful and ethical solution for such people. Palliative sedation is an option of last resort for the people whose symptoms cannot be controlled by any other means. In most cases, it is not considered a form of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, as the ostensible goal of palliative sedation is to control symptoms, rather than to shorten or end the person's life. Palliative sedation is legal everywhere and has been administered since the hospice care movement began in the 1960s. The practice of palliative sedation has been a topic of debate and controversy as many view it as a form of slow euthanasia or mercy killing, associated with many ethical questions. Discussion of this practice occurs in medical literature, but there is no consensus because of unclear definitions and guidelines, with many...