Palliative sedation is not euthanasia

The Canadian Palliative Sedation Therapy Guideline Working Group clarifies terms: "Palliative sedation, more commonly referred to as palliative sedation therapy, is not euthanasia. To euthanize is to intentionally cause death. Palliative sedation therapy, correctly practised, neither aims at death nor shortens life. Palliative sedation therapy is the use of a sedative medication to control severe and untreatable suffering at the end of life when other measures have been exhausted. It does not shorten life. Palliative sedation does not require morphine or other opioids; is not used for every symptom; neither intends nor causes a hastened death. It is a last resort, when all other approaches have failed, to relieve suffering through the use of sedative medications." National Post