Withholding treatment is which form?

• A. Active euthanasia
• B. Voluntary euthanasia
• C. Passive euthanasia
• D. Euthanasia

Answer: (C)

Withholding treatment is passive euthanasia because death occurs as a natural result of not initiating or continuing life-sustaining care, rather than from an action intended to cause death. The clinician’s role is to refrain from interventions (like CPR or ventilation) when they’re deemed non-beneficial or aligned with the patient’s wishes, so there’s no deliberate administration of a lethal agent. Active euthanasia involves directly causing death, and voluntary euthanasia refers to the patient’s explicit wish to end life; euthanasia overall is the deliberate ending of life to relieve suffering, which, in this case, is not being done.