Suffering, existential distress and temporality in the provision of terminal sedation

INTRODUCTION While there is a great deal to agree with in the essay Expanded Terminal Sedation in End-of-Life Care there is, we think, a need to more fully appreciate the human istic side of both palliative and end-of life care.1 Not only does the underlying philosophy of palliative care arguably differ from that which guides curative medicine,2 dying patients are in a uniquely vulnerable position given our cultural disinclination towards open discussions of death and dying. In this brief response, we critically engage Gilbertson et al’s essay and seek to contextualise the perspective they put forward.