Terminal Sedation within the Duty of Palliative Care

Abstract

"The idea of Terminal Sedation (TS) is wrapped within myth, fear and misunderstanding. Indeed Billings et al and later Schadenberg et al have strongly suggested TS was a means of ‘slow euthanasia’, without due consideration of the intervention and its the armatorium of specialist palliative medicine as a course treatment of last resort and one not taken without long and deep consideration. As a result of these misconceptions many physicians feel the need to invoke the Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE) when considering its implementation. Yet with growing evidence to its safety, TS use should not be considered the hazardous, life-shortening intervention, as Younger would have us believe. Rather, this paper will argue that it be considered a part of the treatment options that are available under the aegis of the Duty of Palliative Care (DoPC)"