How does palliative sedation differ from euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide?

• A. It is used to hasten death.
• B. It is never allowed.
• C. It relieves refractory symptoms at end of life by lowering consciousness as a last resort and is not intended to hasten death.
• D. It is the same as physician-assisted suicide.

Answer: (C)

The main idea being tested is how intent and outcome distinguish palliative sedation from acts intended to end life. Palliative sedation uses medications to lower consciousness in order to relieve severe, refractory symptoms at the end of life, and it is pursued as a last resort with the goal of comfort, not to hasten death. Death may occur later due to the underlying illness, but that is not the aim of the intervention. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, in contrast, involve actions whose explicit purpose is to end the patient’s life or enable them to die, and they fall under different ethical and legal considerations. So the description that emphasizes relieving refractory symptoms by lowering consciousness as a last resort and not intending to hasten death best fits palliative sedation.