You Have More End-of-Life Options When You Are Closer to Death

Patients with all sorts of illnesses regularly make voluntary and informed decisions that their lives are intolerable even when they have months of years of life remaining. So, to avoid that suffering, they hasten their deaths. But patients have more end-of-life options as they get closer to death. Here are some examples. 

Palliative Sedation to Unconsciousness.  PSU may be the most restrictive end-of-life option. While guidelines vary, many require the patient to be just hours to days from death. This is in addition to other requirements such that the patient's suffering must be refractory to all other measures.

Medical Aid in Dying. Medical aid in dying is not as restrictive as PSU. But as implemented in the USA, it requires that the patient have a prognosis of six months or less.

VSED and WLST. In contrast to PSU and MAID, patients can VSED or withhold/withdraw life-sustaining treatment even when their illness might not cause death for years.