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The hospital where staff treat fear of death as well as physical pain

The long read: In a Danish palliative care unit, the alternative to assisted dying is not striving to cure, offering relief and comfort to patients and their families

In this unit, terminally ill patients like René receive help to deal with their pain, nausea, and other symptoms from doctors and nurses specialising in palliative care. It’s the experience of Randén and his colleagues in the palliative care unit that no one else in the healthcare system has talked to the patients about the fact that treatment could extend life yet diminish its quality, especially towards the end. This process is known as palliative sedation, when terminally ill patients are given medication to relieve pain and reduce anxiety and distress, with the possible side-effect of shortening life and causing loss of consciousness.

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