Pressure during decision making of continuous sedation in end-of-life situations in Dutch general practice.

Background: Little is known about pressure from patients or relatives on physician's decision making of continuous palliative sedation. We aim to describe experienced pressure by general practitioners (GPs) in cases of continuous sedation after the introduction of the Dutch practice guideline, using a questionnaire survey.

Methods: A sample of 918 Dutch GPs were invited to fill out a questionnaire about their last patient under continuous sedation.