{"entity":{"id":"palliative-sedation","kind":"term","name":"Palliative sedation","aka":["terminal sedation","continuous palliative sedation"],"tldr":"Palliative sedation means giving medicines that make a dying person sleep when severe suffering cannot be relieved any other way. It is ordinary medical care in the last days of life, and it is not euthanasia.","summary":"ESMO published clinical practice guidelines on the management of refractory symptoms at the end of life and the use of palliative sedation in 2014 (Cherny, Annals of Oncology 25 Suppl 3).\n\nThe Netherlands government describes palliative sedation as administering drugs to render the patient unconscious at the end of life to relieve suffering, specifically unbearable pain, that cannot be relieved in any other way. It regards it as part of normal medical practice and not termination of life, because the drugs are not the cause of death; it is permissible where remaining life expectancy is no more than two weeks, and doctors do not need to notify or have it reviewed. The request can come from the patient, family or professional carers, and if the patient cannot decide, the doctor discusses it with their representative.","asOf":"2026-11-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palliative_sedation","links":[{"label":"ESMO guidelines: refractory symptoms at the end of life and palliative sedation (Ann Oncol 2014)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdu238"},{"label":"Government of the Netherlands: palliative sedation","url":"https://www.government.nl/themes/family-health-and-care/euthanasia/palliative-sedation-a-normal-medical-procedure"}],"tags":["supportive"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["palliative-care","hospice-end-of-life"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["last-days-of-life-care"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Clinic basics"},"route":"/terms/palliative-sedation/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"palliative-care","kind":"technology","name":"Early integrated palliative care","route":"/technologies/palliative-care/"},{"id":"hospice-end-of-life","kind":"technology","name":"Hospice and end-of-life care","route":"/technologies/hospice-end-of-life/"}],"term":[{"id":"last-days-of-life-care","kind":"term","name":"Care of dying adults in the last days of life","route":"/terms/last-days-of-life-care/"},{"id":"law-netherlands-euthanasia-act","kind":"term","name":"Netherlands Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act (2001)","route":"/terms/law-netherlands-euthanasia-act/"}]}}