Forum.
Potential for Abuse
Undoubtedly the use of sedation for the relief of symptoms at the end of life is open to abuse. Data from the Netherlands indicated that administration of sedating medication, ostensibly to relieve distress but with manifest intent of hastening death, is commonplace (18, 19). Data from Australia (20, 21) and the United States (22, 23) similarly indicate that this practice is not uncommon. Finally a recent survey of 6 European countries found ongoing evidence of the administration of drugs with the explicit intention of hastening death (24). These practices represent a deviation from normative ethical clinical practice and may accurately be described as “slow euthanasia” (25, 26).
Infrastructural safeguards that guarantee the prerequisites described by Dr Wein are necessary to prevent the practice of “slow euthanasia” (25, 26).
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