Refractory Pain, Existential Suffering, And Palliative Care: Releasing An Unbearable Lightness Of Being,
2011
The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
Refractory Pain, Existential Suffering, And Palliative Care: Releasing An Unbearable Lightness Of Being, George P. Smith Ii
Scholarly Articles
Since the beginning of the hospice movement in 1967, “total pain management” has been the declared goal of hospice care. Palliating the whole person’s physical, psycho-social, and spiritual states or conditions is central to managing the pain which induces suffering. At the end-stage of life, an inextricable component of the ethics of adjusted care requires recognition of a fundamental right to avoid cruel and unusual suffering from terminal illness. This Article urges wider consideration and use of terminal sedation, or sedation until death, as an efficacious palliative treatment and as a reasonable medical procedure in order to safeguard the “right” …
