# continuous sedation following brain surgery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604 "2013-02-07T17:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/1 "2013-02-07T17:04:00Z")
I can’t find any info on the interweb tubes on this. Following a draining procedure for a subdural hematoma, my brother-in-law has been sedated for almost a week now. I imagine that they’d like him to remain relatively calm, but asleep? What’s the purpose of this part of the treatment? Anyone here know? \*\* Qadgop\*\*? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/2 "2013-02-07T17:16:24Z")
On the fly, read this: [What Is a Medically Induced Coma and Why Is It Used? - Scientific American](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-a-medically-induced-coma) ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/3 "2013-02-07T19:11:52Z")
Gosh the internet is great…but why don’t you ask his doctor? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/4 "2013-02-07T19:19:48Z")
The attending doc may not be so accessible as the internet, especially if the OP is not the next of kin. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/5 "2013-02-07T21:16:38Z")
> [@FrankJBN](#): > > Gosh the internet is great…but why don’t you ask his doctor? We’re 8 hours away, is why. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/6 "2013-02-07T22:51:17Z")
Is medically induced coma ever useful, or ever used, as a form of palliative care for seriously ill (and perhaps terminally ill) patients who are in great suffering that cannot otherwise be alleviated? Is it legal? Ethical? Effective? Cost-feasible? Ever done? According to the user comments upon that Scientific American article that **Qadgop the Mercotan** linked, such a coma is not necessarily blissfully peaceful. Numerous commenters described having, and remembering, horrendous nightmares of indefinite duration. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/7 "2013-02-07T23:23:00Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Is medically induced coma ever useful, or ever used, as a form of palliative care for seriously ill (and perhaps terminally ill) patients who are in great suffering that cannot otherwise be alleviated? I can do better than palliative care, how about therapeutic for an untreated rabies? [Rabies - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies#Induced_coma) ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuous-sedation-following-brain-surgery/649604/8 "2013-02-08T02:09:35Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Is medically induced coma ever useful, or ever used, as a form of palliative care for seriously ill (and perhaps terminally ill) patients who are in great suffering that cannot otherwise be alleviated? > > Is it legal? Ethical? Effective? Cost-feasible? Ever done? > > According to the user comments upon that Scientific American article that **Qadgop the Mercotan** linked, such a coma is not necessarily blissfully peaceful. Numerous commenters described having, and remembering, horrendous nightmares of indefinite duration. In med school I had a patient with intractable pain from his metastatic cancer. He eventually opted for palliative sedation and spent the last few days of his life on a ketamine drip. So I don’t know about coma but sedation is sometimes done.