The term" refractory" can be applied when a symptom cannot be adequately controlled
despite aggressive efforts to identify a tolerable therapy that does not compromise …

'Terminal sedation'is a phrase that has appeared in the palliative care literature in the last
few years. There has not been a clear definition proposed for this term, nor has there been …

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization(NHPCO) endorses the definition of
''palliative care''put forth by the National Quality Forum. 1 It reads: Palliative care refers to …

Many patients nearing the end of life reach a point at which the goals of care change from an
emphasis on prolonging life and optimizing function to maximizing the quality of remaining …

Shortly before his death in 1995, Kenneth B. Schwartz, a cancer patient at Massachusetts
General Hospital (MGH), founded The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at MGH. The Schwartz …

Terminally ill cancer patients near the end of life may experience intolerable suffering
refractory to palliative treatment. Although sedation is considered to be an effective treatment …

In patients with advanced cancer, a readiness to address pain and other intolerable
symptoms is a medical and moral imperative [1]. This has been described by Roy as the …

Although sedation for existential distress has been actively discussed in the palliative care
literature, empirical reports are limited. A retrospective cohort study was performed to clarify …

Although palliative sedation therapy is often required in terminally ill cancer patients to
achieve acceptable symptom relief, empirical data supporting the ethical validity of this …

Sedation is a clinically important therapeutic intervention in the imminently dying patient. As
the patient with an advanced, irreversible illness nears the end of life, symptoms accumulate …