Taking 'sedation' to an extreme
Charlie Butts 5/14/2008

"Terminal sedation" is a process in which a person with a severe illness or injury who is terminal -- or perhaps in a supposed "vegetative state" -- is sedated until unconscious and then starved to death. Rita Marker of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide believes the practice is fairly common.

"Those who favor assisted suicide, for example, have defined it as ... both sedating the person and removing food and fluids," says Marker. "And then they say, well, you see, they're going to die anyway within 5 to 21 days." As Marker explains, the process is completely legal. "First of all, a person can be sedated if they are in a great deal of pain. Secondly, under all state laws, food and fluids provided by tube -- which they would have to be if the person is sedated -- would be considered medical treatment [that] can be removed from the person who is sedated. So legally speaking, it is something that can be done."
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Marker is especially concerned over a West Coast attempt to use terminal sedation to circumvent the ban on doctor assisted-suicide. "[T]here is a bill pending in California which actually would tell doctors that they're supposed to let patients know if they have been diagnosed with having a condition that will cause their death within a year," she says. "If the patient wants to know [their] options, [doctors] are supposed to inform them of all kinds of options, including ... terminal sedation." The task force recommends individuals visit their website for free legal documents in which they can stipulate that terminal sedation be ruled out. An individual also needs to have a second party named to make decisions for them if they are unable, but it must be a person who fully agrees with their position.