The December 26, 2009 edition of the New York Times carried a lengthy article describing the practice of palliative sedation, whereby strong sedative medications were used to provide comfort and relief to dying patients whose pain and suffering did not respond to standard interventions. Entitled Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Sedation, the article has generated several hundred reader comments.
Pallimed founder and palliative care physician Drew Rosielle, MD shares his reactions to the article here: NYT on Palliative Sedation.
To learn more about this experience from the perspective of a certified hospice and palliative care nurse who has “seen palliative sedation work wonders,” read Angela Morrow’s blog post: Palliative or Terminal Sedation Overview.
See also Some Observations in Response to NY Times Article on Palliative Sedation, by Judy Schwartz, PhD, RN, regional clinical coordinator at Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit end-of-life advocacy and consultative organization.
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amazing article and the comments were like stories! This gave me the reassurance that I needed (but buried) ... that the decision I made for Cliff was the right one. It's a tough call but a clear one when you find yourself in that situation. If your husband is going to die, let him die in peace and painlessly. The hospital offered it to me thankfully. However when my Mom died - in a different hospital (but also from a stroke) my big sister had to say to the nurse there, (after 3 days of watching her struggle to breathe) "isn't it time for some TLC?" ... and then it wasn't long.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing Marty xx