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 life, usually through a continuous intravenous or subcutaneous infusion of a sedative drug, or through a specialized catheter designed to provide comfortable and discreet administration of medication by the rectal route. It sometimes results in only a light unconsciousness, in which the patient may still be somewhat aware of the presence of others, and in other cases in a deep unconsciousness resembling coma. It is an option of last resort for people whose symptoms cannot be controlled by any other means, and in most cases it is not considered a form of euthanasia or physician assisted suicide, since its stated goal is to control symptoms rather than to shorten or end life. Palliative sedation is legal everywhere and has been administered since the hospice care movement began in the 1960s, though the practice has been a topic of debate, with many viewing it as a form of slow euthanasia or mercy killing, and no consensus exists because of unclear definitions and guidelines and considerable variation in practice across the world.