Published by Roberto Wenk.
Last updated date: December 2, 2019.
Intolerable suffering
When patients express a certain degree of symptom severity, they themselves should indicate whether their suffering is severe enough to justify treatment by sedation.
Suffering and distress are subjective criteria and logically only patients can determine the suffering intolerable. If the patient is unable to give informed consent for treatment and cannot express the degree of discomfort, a proxy judgment by family members and medical staff should assess the level of suffering by the patient.
Refractory suffering
All possible treatment has failed, or it is estimated that no methods are available for palliation within the time frame and the risk/benefit ratio the patient can tolerate.