[Ethical and clinical recommendations concerning palliative sedation]

Palliative sedation is a good medical treatment to relieve suffering at the end of life that is judged not to be adequately relieved by other means. The treatment decision should be made by a palliative care physician, preferably in consultation with another palliative care physician and, in some cases, an anesthesiologist. The depth of sedation should be appropriate to the needs of the patient. Informed consent should be obtained from the patient, if possible, and significant others should be informed and cared for during the process. In the case of continuous deep palliative sedation, the medical and ethical risks of reducing the patient's level of consciousness until death should be balanced against the great benefit of the treatment to the patient. The treatment should be thoroughly documented and followed up. The depth of sedation and relief of symptoms should be monitored.