I’ve searched and searched, but can’t find anything regarding the *patient’s * comfort, when dying of palliative sedation.
I’ve learned that is not a pretty sight for loved ones, so I’m not too sure if PS is a good way to die [when you’re terminally ill].
It must be hell to see your wife, mother or whomever, with cracked lips from lack of water.
I’ve read that family members may keep the patients mouth damp with a wet cloth, but I doubt that’s a thing *everyone * is capable of.
Also: How long will it take for a patient to die of PS?
Personal experiences or a link to a site with information about the patient’s feelings would be greatly appreciated.
Because the terminology differs from place to place, it would help if we could narrow down exactly what you mean by palliative sedation. In my part of the U.S., palliative sedation is the administering of sedative medication to terminally ill patients to lessen or eliminate physical and/or psychological stress that cannot be treated by other means, such as pain medication. It may shorten life but its primary purpose is not euthanasia. It aims to eliminate suffering, with the knowledge that it may be necessary or even desireable to render the patient unconscious to do so.
When you say that palliative sedation is not a pretty sight for loved ones, I am not sure what you are comparing it to. The goal of such sedation, here, is to relieve the suffering of the patient to the best of our ability. This involves anticipating the needs of the patient as much as possible, so pain medication is given if the patient appears to be in pain, bed linens are kept clean, the skin is cared for, etc. Dry lips and tented skin may indicate dehydration, but that does not mean that the sedated patient is feeling thirst, because that sensation requires a level of consciousness that they do not possess. Analagously, a person can have very painful injuries but not experience pain if they are treated with pain medication.
A patient in the US does not die ‘of’ PS, they die because of whatever terminal illness they have. This may take minutes, hours, or days, during which they usually are receiving other ‘comfort care’ measures like pain medication.
This description of PS will not apply if it means something else where you are from: for instance, if it means active euthanasia, where the goal is to terminate life quickly.