'For anyone who wants an in-depth, comprehensive and balanced understanding of the clinical and ethical issues surrounding continuous sedation at the end of life, this book is the place to go. The subject is more complex than most people realize and the authors' contributions are extremely helpful in teasing apart and identifying the critical issues.' Stuart Youngner, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
1. Introduction Sigrid Sterckx, Kasper Raus and Freddy Mortier; 2. Continuous sedation until death: state of the art Sophie Bruinsma, Judith Rietjens and Agnes van der Heide; 3. Death by equivocation: a manifold definition of terminal sedation David Albert Jones; 4. Palliative sedation: clinical, pharmacological and practical aspects Josep Porta-Sales; 5. Clinical aspects of palliative sedation Nigel Sykes; 6. Understanding the role of nurses in the management of symptoms and distress in the last days of life Eleanor Wilson and Jane Seymour; 7. Principle and practice for palliative sedation: gaps between the two David Orentlicher; 8. The legal permissibility of continuous deep sedation at the end of life: a comparison of laws and a proposal Evelien Delbeke; 9. The Dutch national guideline on palliative sedation Johan Legemaate; 10. Continuous deep sedation at the end of life: balancing benefits and harms in England, Germany and France Richard Huxtable and Ruth Horn; 11. Can the doctrine of double effect justify continuous deep sedation at the end of life? Kasper Raus, Sigrid Sterckx and Freddy Mortier; 12. Palliative sedation, consciousness and personhood Timothy Holahan, Thomas Carroll, Claudia Gonzalez and Timothy Quill; 13. The ethical evaluation of continuous sedation at the end of life Johannes van Delden; 14. Terminal sedation and euthanasia – the virtue in calling a spade what it is Søren Holm; 15. Terminal sedation: recasting a metaphor as the ars moriendi changes Margaret Battin.