Palliative sedation: the position statement of the Italian National Committee for Bioethics (INCB).

Palliative sedation: the position statement of the Italian National Committee for Bioethics (INCB). Minerva Anestesiol. 2016 Dec 22; Authors: Orsi L, Gristina GR Abstract In January 2016 the Italian National Bioethics Committee (NBC) published a position statement entitled "Deep and continuous palliative sedation in the imminence of death", related to the use of sedation and analgesia for relief from pain and psychological distress in dying patients. The Committee, in this statement, points out the clinical and ethical appropriateness of palliative sedation as a therapeutic procedure. As a result, palliative sedation has to be considered today useful, scientifically safe and reliable, and acknowledged as an integral part of good clinical practice. At the same time, the position statement, once and for all, makes clear that palliative sedation cannot and must not be equated with the practice of euthanasia. Thus, this document should be known by health professionals caring for dying patients not only in palliative as well as in intensive care settings, but it should be also considered as a milestone aimed to encourage and ease a widespread implementation of this procedure in all health care settings. PMID: 28006887 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Minerva Anestesiologica - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Minerva Anestesiol Source Type: research