Study title

Some dying people experience symptoms in the last hours or days of life that do not respond well to conventional therapies. In such circumstances, sedation may be given to induce a coma until death occurs. This practice is known as 'continuous deep sedation until death' or as 'palliative' or 'terminal' sedation. Although the practice is a standard procedure there are many debates about its definition, what drugs should be used or what criteria should guide its application. These data describe the care of dying people with refractory symptoms and include sensitive issues such as balancing symptom control with avoidance of hastening death. There is little knowledge about the decision making process at the bedside, or how the treatment relates to other issues of end of life decision making. In this study, a team of social scientists and clinicians seek to undertake a study in two parts. Part one involves firstly, a review of two bodies of literature: clinical research and practice; ethical, social science and philosophical. Secondly, a secondary analysis of an existing data set comprising surveys completed by UK medical practitioners. Part 2 will involve a series of 30 case studies using qualitative methods to interview staff and relatives most closely involved in the care of decedents who received continuous sedation until death at home, in hospital or in hospices.