Consensus guidelines on analgesia and sedation in dying intensive care unit patients
BMC Medical Ethics 3 (1):1-9 (2002)
| Abstract | Background Intensivists must provide enough analgesia and sedation to ensure dying patients receive good palliative care. However, if it is perceived that too much is given, they risk prosecution for committing euthanasia. The goal of this study is to develop consensus guidelines on analgesia and sedation in dying intensive care unit patients that help distinguish palliative care from euthanasia. Methods Using the Delphi technique, panelists rated levels of agreement with statements describing how analgesics and sedatives should be given to dying ICU patients and how palliative care should be distinguished from euthanasia. Participants were drawn from 3 panels: 1) Canadian Academic Adult Intensive Care Fellowship program directors and Intensive Care division chiefs (N = 9); 2) Deputy chief provincial coroners (N = 5); 3) Validation panel of Intensivists attending the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group meeting (N = 12). Results After three Delphi rounds, consensus was achieved on 16 statements encompassing the role of palliative care in the intensive care unit, the management of pain and suffering, current areas of controversy, and ways of improving palliative care in the ICU. Conclusion Consensus guidelines were developed to guide the administration of analgesics and sedatives to dying ICU patients and to help distinguish palliative care from euthanasia. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesTony Hope, John Mcmillan & Elaine Hill (2010). Intensive Care Triage: Priority Should Be Independent of Whether Patients Are Already Receiving Intensive Care. Bioethics 26 (5):259-266.
William Colby, Constance Dahlin, John Lantos, John Carney & Myra Christopher (2010). The National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care Clinical Practice Guidelines Domain 8: Ethical and Legal Aspects of Care. HEC Forum 22 (2):117-131.
H. ten Have & David Clark (eds.) (2002). The Ethics of Palliative Care: European Perspectives. Open University Press.
A. Minetti (2011). Working Together. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Dying Patients in a Palliative Care Unit. Journal of Medical Ethics 37 (12):715-718.
D. Micah Hester (2010). End-of-Life Care and Pragmatic Decision Making: A Bioethical Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Margaret P. Battin (1992). Dying in 559 Beds: Efficiency, 'Best Buys', and the Ethics of Standardization in National Health Care. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 17 (1):59-77.
Blair Henry, Mervyn Dean, Victor Cellarius & Larry Librach (2011). To "Sleep Until Death"Jeffrey T. Berger Replies:Rights Vs. LibertyDavid Orentlicher Replies. Hastings Center Report 41 (1).
Victor Cellarius (2011). 'Early Terminal Sedation' is a Distinct Entity. Bioethics 25 (1):46-54.
Kevin McGovern (2012). Spiritual Care of the Dying Person. Chisholm Health Ethics Bulletin 18 (1):8.
Timothy E. Quill (2012). Physicians Should “Assist in Suicide” When It Is Appropriate. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 40 (1):57-65.
Antoine Baumann, Frederique Claudot, Gerard Audibert, Paul-Michel Mertes & Louis Puybasset (2011). The Ethical and Legal Aspects of Palliative Sedation in Severely Brain Injured Patients: A French Perspective. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 6 (1):4-.
Tomasz R. Okon (2006). "Nobody Understands": On a Cardinal Phenomenon of Palliative Care. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 31 (1):13 – 46.
Joseph Boyle (2004). Medical Ethics and Double Effect: The Case of Terminal Sedation. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 25 (1):51-60.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-11-17Total downloads8 ( #123,037 of 549,065 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,185 of 549,065 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
