Ethical Issues in Palliative Care

Abstract

With the transformation of medical philosophy, palliative care has become a fundamental component of end-of-life care for patients with life-threatening illnesses, meanwhile ethical issues involved in palliative care are becoming more prominent. This article, through a comprehensive review of both domestic and international ethical research, articulates five crucial ethical issues inherent to palliative care: truth-telling, advance care planning, the use of life-sustaining interventions, palliative sedation, and the relationship between euthanasia, assisted dying, and palliative care. The objective is to offer an ethical perspective for palliative care, help professionals in palliative care to address the critical ethical issues in practice, improve the quality of care for patients and their families, and to inform the development of related legal, regulatory, and policy frameworks.

Keywords

• palliative care
• ethics
• life-sustaining intervention
• palliative sedation
• advanced care planning