The Physician Assisted Suicide
One of the most common therapies is Palliative Sedation. In palliative sedation therapy, symptom relief is achieved by lessening the pain or eliminating the consciousness of the patient. One of the most common methods to provide palliative care, is through the use of drugs. The drugs that are often used are analgesics and barbiturates. Barbiturates act on the central nervous system by causing drowsiness, relieving everyday anxiety, and make people feel relaxed and calm. Analgesics relieve pain and its associated symptoms without causing anesthesia. Many types of palliative sedation therapies are typically distinguished by the impact they have on the patient’s state of consciousness. (Lipuma, 191) Many people choose a more comfortable alternative to spending their final months in a hospital and choose hospice to provide the special care to improve their quality of life for themselves and their family. Hospice is an option for those whose life expectancy is less than six months and involves palliative care (symptom and pain relief). In many cases, a patient has Hospice care in their own home. . Palliative care and hospice are one form of providing care to a terminally ill patient while they live out their remaining days without pain and suffering. A more in depth form of palliative care is Continuous Sedation until Death (CSD). Continuous sedation until death is morally justifiable because it respects patient autonomy, mercy, compassion, and physician non-abandonment. CSD is used for symptom management by providing on going sedation during the end of life. While neither Palliative care, hospice or CSD are actually assisted suicides therapies, all three of these are ethical and an aid in the patient dying painlessly and alleviating the patients suffering. Similar to assisted suicide with also provides the same