Geeske Hendriksen MSc

1 INTRODUCTION Continuous deep sedation (CDS) is a form of palliative sedation that relieves suffering at the end-stage of life by continuously lowering the consciousness of the terminally ill patient until death.1 According to the Dutch guideline—of which core elements are presented in Table 1—the indication for CDS is the presence of refractory symptoms causing intolerable suffering in the last weeks or days of life.