Where does palliative sedation become euthanasia?

Where does palliative sedation become euthanasia?
A special issue of the journal Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics is devoted to the controversial issue of palliative sedation. As the editor, bioethicist Daniel Sulmasy, points out, palliative sedation has special relevance for Christians. For them, the relief of unnecessary suffering is a duty, but euthanasia is wrong. Identifying the right response to suffering at the end of life is often perplexing, especially since some doctors use palliative sedation as terminal sedation – rendering patients unconscious and withdrawing hydration and nutrition until they die.

NT coroner condemns Top End Health Service over death of elderly men in Darwin

An elderly man was "left untreated to die in pain" and health services were more intent on defending their actions than analysing the facts, a damning coronial inquest into the death of two men in Darwin has revealed.

Henry Wilson, 77, died from sepsis on September 19, 2016 — but despite that, Top End Health Service never reported his case to the coroner.

Mandatory Reporting Tied to Improved Sepsis Tx, Survival

New York study examines impact of "Rory's Regulations"

New York state hospitals' adherence to sepsis protocols increased and sepsis mortality declined after reporting became mandatory, researchers said.

The analysis of sepsis reporting data from 185 New York hospitals from April 2014 through June 2016 found that sepsis protocols were initiated in 81.3% of eligible patients, most often in emergency care settings.

Effort to Decrease Misdiagnosis Launched

-Barriers to accurate diagnosis still present, group says

WASHINGTON -- Misdiagnosis is still a big problem, and more awareness of the issue is needed, several experts said Thursday.

"Every 9 minutes, someone in a U.S. hospital dies due to a medical diagnosis that was wrong or delayed," Paul Epner, MD, said at an event here sponsored by the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM). "It's estimated each year between 40,000 and 80,000 deaths can be attributed to inaccurate or delayed diagnosis."

World Sepsis Day 2018: New protocol saves lives

As part of World Sepsis Day, we cover a recent study into newly implemented sepsis protocols. It concludes that they improve care and decrease the risk of death by 15 percent.

Sepsis in numbers

There are more than 1.7 million cases of sepsis in the United States each year and around 270,000 result in death. Of all deaths that occur in hospital, 1 in 3 are due to sepsis.

Sepsis death in Doncaster hospital prompts mother to speak out

The mother of a 26-year-old woman whose death from sepsis was "avoidable" is speaking out to prevent more deaths.

Anna Hemmings died in Doncaster Royal Infirmary in October 2015.

An investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has found staff did not diagnose and treat the sepsis quickly enough, and she died as a result.

Anna's mother, Katie Hemmings, urged patients to speak out to medical staff if they have sepsis symptoms.

Time To Terminate "Assisted Dying"

IN 2002 Belgium legalized the murderously chilling act of euthanasia, whereby doctors and nurses kill patients with their supposed consent. Holland had formally done the same the year before. This practice, all too reminiscent of what Nazi Germany did before WWII to the mentally handicapped and to people with very serious disabilities, is justified these days not by Hitlerian theories of "purifying the race," of course, but as a "humane" way to deal with those who are suffering mortal illnesses and in extreme pain.