ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2014
Current debates on end-of-life sedation: an international expert elicitation study.
Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04642677 (Randomized phasE II Study for Efficacy of healThcare prOvider's REcommened Communication With Sympathy in Terminally Ill Cancer Patients Treated With Palliative Sedation), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Randomized phasE II Study for Efficacy of healThcare prOvider's REcommened Communication With Sympathy in Terminally Ill Cancer Patients Treated With Palliative Sedation
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Clinical Practice Guidelines on Palliative Sedation Around the World: A Systematic Review.Journal of palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of sedative practices on grief in the spouse of a patient who has died of cancer. An international systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Decision-making about palliative sedation for patients with cancer: a qualitative study in five European countries linked to the Palliative sedation project.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Report on palliative sedation medication usage: a survey of palliative care experts in Eight European countries.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Observational
- Should continuous deep sedation until death be legally regulated in Switzerland? An exploratory study with palliative care physicians.Palliative care and social practice · 2023Article
- Medicalisation, suffering and control at the end of life: The interplay of deep continuous palliative sedation and assisted dying.Health (London, England : 1997) · 2022Article
- Effect of paracentesis on the survival of patients with terminal cancer and ascites: a propensity score-weighted analysis of the East Asian Collaborative Cross-cultural Study to Elucidate the Dying Process.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Observational
- Ethical challenges in palliative sedation of adults: protocol for a systematic review of current clinical practice guidelines.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Midazolam sedation in palliative medicine: retrospective study in a French center for cancer control.BMC palliative care · 2020Article
- Sedation practice and discomfort during withdrawal of mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients at end-of-life: a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter study.Intensive care medicine · 2020Article
- Palliative sedation: beliefs and decision-making among Spanish palliative care physicians.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2020Article
- European Palliative Sedation Project.Journal of palliative medicine · 2020Article
- Palliative sedation and medical assistance in dying: Distinctly different or simply semantics?Nursing inquiry · 2020Article
- Changes in opinions on palliative sedation of palliative care specialists over 16 years and their effects on clinical practice.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2019Article
- Reflections on palliative sedation.Palliative care · 2019Article
- An optimal design for the study of palliative sedation-making somewhat better pictures.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2018Article
- Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey.PloS one · 2016Article
- Article
- Nonconsensual withdrawal of nutrition and hydration in prolonged disorders of consciousness: authoritarianism and trustworthiness in medicine.Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeEnd-of-life sedation, though increasingly prevalent and widespread internationally, remains one of the most highly debated medical practices in the context of palliative medicine. This qualitative study aims to elicit and record the perspectives of leading international palliative care experts on current debates.
methodsTwenty-one professionals from diverse backgrounds, sharing field-specific knowledge/expertise defined by significant scholarly contribution on end-of-life sedation, were recruited. Open-ended, semi-structured interviews, following a topic-oriented structure reflecting on current debates, were conducted. Results were analysed using thematic content analysis.
resultsThree main aspects of sedation were identified and discussed as potentially problematic: (a) continuous deep sedation as an extreme facet of end-of-life sedation, (b) psycho-existential suffering as an ambivalent indication for sedation and (c) withdrawal or withholding of artificial nutrition and hydration as potentially life-shortening. On these grounds, concerns were reported over end-of-life sedation being morally equivalent to euthanasia. Considerable emphasis was placed on intentions as the distinguishing factor between end-of-life acts, and protective safeguards were introduced to distance sedation from euthanasia.
conclusionsThis study shows that, despite the safeguards introduced, certain aspects of sedation, including the intentions associated with the practice, are still under question, parallels being drawn between end-of-life sedation and euthanasia. This reaffirms the existence of a grey area surrounding the two practices, already evidenced in countries where euthanasia is legalized. More clarity over the issues that generate this grey area, with their causes being uncovered and eliminated, is imperative to resolve current debates and effectively inform research, policy and practice of end-of-life sedation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
24647491What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.