However the main questions raised by this law on CSD
are ethical. They have been already repeatedly raised in the
literature: namely could CSD correspond to a ‘slow euthanasia’,
at least a psychic euthanasia, with a ‘social death’ preceding the
biological death, or is it rather close to a natural death following
palliative sedation? The perception by medical practitioners,
the patients and their relatives that CSD might correspond to a
natural death, as compared to euthanasia, which is more rapid
and frequently felt as violent and unethical, probably explain the
recent increase of its use.