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The Use of Palliative Sedation to Treat Existential Suffering: A Reconsideration

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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

Palliative sedation refers to the monitored use of medications intended to induce a state of decreased awareness or unconsciousness in order to relieve otherwise intractable suffering in a manner that is ethically acceptable to the patient, family and health-care providers (Cherny et al. 2009). This sedation may be categorized as mild (the patient is awake but the level of consciousness is lowered), intermediate (the patient is asleep but can be wakened for communication), or deep (coma) (Materstvedt and Bosshard 2009). Proportionality is considered to be an essential ingredient of palliative sedation such that the amount and duration of medication used should be only that which is necessary to adequately relieve one or more symptoms (Broeckaert 2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada

    Aron Portnoy, Punam Rana, Camilla Zimmermann & Gary Rodin

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Aron Portnoy, Punam Rana, Camilla Zimmermann & Gary Rodin

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  1. Aron Portnoy
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  2. Punam Rana
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  3. Camilla Zimmermann
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  4. Gary Rodin
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Correspondence to Gary Rodin .

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  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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Portnoy, A., Rana, P., Zimmermann, C., Rodin, G. (2015). The Use of Palliative Sedation to Treat Existential Suffering: A Reconsideration. 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_4

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