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Palliative Sedation and the Goals of Care at the End of Life

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Sedation at the End-of-life: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((CSBE,volume 116))

Abstract

The term palliative sedation covers a range of current practices. Some have argued that the ethical boundary distinguishing palliative sedation from euthanasia is becoming blurred in a number of these practices (Ten Have and Welie 2014; Hauser and Walsh 2009). Recent policy frameworks and guidelines that have been developed by health care institutions or groups of clinicians in different countries are not consistent in terminology or the medical and ethical guidance that they provide (Taboada 2011; Claessens et al. 2008).

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the assistance of Prof. John Heng of King’s University College, London, Canada in researching and writing this chapter. I also acknowledge the helpful comments of an anonymous reviewer of the first draft of this chapter, some of whose ideas I have incorporated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Michael’s Hospital Family Practice Unit, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    William F. Sullivan

  2. Surrey Place Center, 2 Surrey Place, Toronto, ON, M5S 2C2, Canada

    William F. Sullivan

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  1. William F. Sullivan
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Correspondence to William F. Sullivan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Centre for Bioethics and Department of Internal Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Paulina Taboada

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Sullivan, W.F. (2015). Palliative Sedation and the Goals of Care at the End of Life. In: Taboada, P. (eds) Sedation at the End-of-life: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Philosophy and Medicine(), vol 116. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9106-9_2

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