Palliative Care Commons^™

Catholic Terminal Sedation-A New Framework For Providing Terminal Palliative Sedation As A Requirement In Catholic Healthcare Organizations, Noah Dimas

Graduate Student Research Symposium

The present attitudes surrounding death and dying in the United States have been trending toward the acceptance of so-called “Assisted Death” interventions at the end-of-life (EoL), specifically Physician-Assisted Suicide. The acceptance of these interventions is rooted in the notion of autonomy within the American culture of medicine that generally states a patient is allowed to request whatever medical interventions they wish. As such, legislative bodies around the United States have begun to legalize Assisted Death in response to the regularly cited desire to die peacefully and without pain from an expected terminal illness. However, for Catholic healthcare organizations, there is …

Hoping To Die Well: An Exploration Of The Good Death, Emily Folse, Thomas Smith, Phd

Phase 1

Introduction: Many healthcare providers are uncomfortable and ill-equipped to talk about death with terminally ill patients and their families. This often results in unnecessary, aggressive medical interventions at the end of life and deaths discordant with patients’ wishes. In order to help patients die better deaths, it is first necessary to determine the character of a good death.

Methods: The good death was considered from secular and Catholic perspectives because religion is personally important to the author and many patients in the US. Features of a good death were elucidated by careful reading of scientific and humanistic literature and conversing …