Distress operates to excuse the wrongfulness of an act if the author of the act had “no other reasonable way, in a situation of distress, of saving the author’s life or the lives of other persons entrusted to the author’s care”. The wrongfulness of the conduct is precluded in circumstances where the state agent had no other reasonable way of saving life. Thus, defense is limited to cases where human life is at stake. Therefore, the correct option is D.