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Terminal Sedation, Self-Starvation, and Orchestrating the End of Life
Erich H. Loewy, MD
Arch Intern Med. 2001;161:329-332.
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IN THIS Commentary, I address some of the more recent problems and proposals
made regarding end-of-life issues. Specifically, I address the question of
orchestrating the end of life and put the recently raised issues of terminal
sedation and self-starvation into that context. Patients who are at the end
of their lives often ask that their physicians or, at times, families help
them to hasten death. This is not because patients "want to be dead"—the
life drive of most normal biological organisms militates against such a wish.
The desire to be dead is generally not a desire to no longer be alive but
an overwhelming feeling that being dead is preferable to "living this way."
If, as is often the case, we can change the way in which patients live, the
desire to die will vanish or, at the very least, diminish.
By making significant changes in . . . [Full Text of this Article] WHO DECIDES?
WHO IS THE PATIENT?
TERMINAL SEDATION AND SELF-STARVATION
CONCLUSIONS
University of California, Davis
Department of Internal Medicine, Bioethics Program
4150 V St, Suite 2400
Sacramento, CA 95817
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