Doctors appear willing to use intensive measures to lessen otherwise untreatable pain and severe symptoms in dying patients even if the treatment at least in theory, risks hastening the dying process.

• Position: Health Beat - Brief Article

Doctors appear willing to use intensive measures to lessen otherwise untreatable pain and severe symptoms in dying patients even if the treatment, at least in theory, risks hastening the dying process, according to a pair of studies on end-of-life care from Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Known as "terminal sedation," the practice involves the use of sedating medications to...