Palliative sedation as a way of treatment of pain in terminally ill patients treated in Polish hospices – own observations

An issue of palliative sedation as a method of treating crushing pain in terminally ill patients in hospices in Poland was raised on in this paper. Palliative sedation is that way of treatment that enables to switch off consciousness of dying patient in a pharmacologically controlled way, when there is no other way to control overwhelming pain. There have been no medical reports in Polish medical literature about palliative sedation until 2010. There has been no statistics about using this procedure in Polish hospices either. In attempt to make an evaluation of using palliative sedation as a method of pain treatment in terminally ill patients in Poland a questionnaire was done. The four questions were sent to 45 hospices in Poland. The acknowledgement of definition of palliative sedation among palliative specialists, the number of patients treated, whether the patient's consent is obtained, and if there were any positive or negative impacts on such a treatment were checked. The results revealed that although the definition is well known, palliative sedation is not a common way of treatment in Poland. It is used in some big agglomerations, besides univocal positive ethical attitude it remains controversial among physicians, patients and their guardians. Standardized procedures of using palliative sedation in Poland need to be prepared.