Sedation Before Ventilator Withdrawal

...We report on a recent case that is challenging, both because of unique circumstances and because it concerns an issue not much discussed the literature -- sedation before ventilator withdrawal. We explore the of whether it is morally justifiable to sedate an alert patient his life-supporting ventilator is disconnected. Alert,-dependent patients will likely experience symptoms of suffocation air hunger if their artificial ventilation is stopped....And yet sedation, heavy sedation, virtually ensures that the patient will die, even death is already highly probable. The issue of sedation combined with removal is directly related to the difficult question of the between allowing a patient to die and actively producing the death a patient....