We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Correspondence.
- Authors
Heyse-Moore, Louis
- Abstract
Terminal restlessness or distress is terms increasingly in use in recent years. Diagnosis after all, means to bring knowledge to the light of day, whereas terminal restlessness is more of a catchall phrase covering multiple possible diagnoses. Deciding someone is 'terminal' is an uncertain business. A person dying of pneumonia may take a few days to do so, while another dying of a pulmonary embolus may take a few minutes. If physicians are faced with a dying restless patient and the cause is either unknown or not treatable, action must be taken, and sedation is commonly propounded. Preservation of consciousness is rightly seen as an important priority. In general, maximum tranquillization with minimum sedation is a useful principle.
- Subjects
TERMINALLY ill; PHYSICIANS; DIAGNOSIS; CONSCIOUS sedation
- Publication
Palliative Medicine, 2003, Vol 17, Issue 5, p469
- ISSN
0269-2163
- Publication type
Letter
- DOI
10.1191/0269216303pm783xx