What Is Assisted Suicide?

Assisted suicide is when severely or terminally ill people end their life with
someone else’s help. There are many different ways that a person might
help with a suicide, but assisted suicide is generally defined as follows:

 The person who wants to end their life has asked for help.
 The person understands what they are asking for will cause death.
 The person assisting knows what they’re doing. They intentionally
help.
 The person assisting provides medication to the person who is ending
their life.
 The person who wants to die takes the drugs themselves.

In physician-assisted suicide, a doctor provides medication to the person

who wants to end their life. The doctor may also give instructions on how to
take the medication so it will cause death. But the doctor does not inject the
medication or even help the sick person swallow a drug.

 Why Do People Choose to Die

How Euthanasia Differs

Euthanasia is different than assisted suicide because, with euthanasia, the
doctor actually administers the medication that causes death.

For example, a doctor may inject a dying person with drugs that will stop the
heart.

Usually, euthanasia happens in a hospital or medical facility.

Types of Euthanasia
There are two types of euthanasia:2

 Voluntary euthanasia: The sick person asks the doctor for help and
the doctor agrees. Both act willingly.
 Involuntary euthanasia: Someone causes a sick person’s death
without the sick person giving permission.

Recap

With physician-assisted suicide, the sick person takes the medication on

their own. If a doctor, friend, family member, or anyone else administers the
medication, it is considered euthanasia. 

Legal Issues
Laws for assisted suicide and euthanasia vary by state and country.

Where Assisted Suicide Is Allowed

In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is allowed in:3

 California
 Washington
  Oregon
 Montana
 Colorado
 New Mexico
 Hawaii
 Maine
 New Jersey
 Vermont
 Washington D.C.

Several countries have also passed laws allowing doctors to assist with a
suicide.

Many Americans seem to support laws allowing physician-assisted suicide. In

a poll of 1,024 Americans, 72% of people said doctors should be able to help
someone with an incurable disease end their life if they wish to. 4

If a doctor or anyone else actually gives the person the lethal medication,
the act is considered euthanasia. That can be a crime even in areas that
have assisted-suicide laws.

 Legislation Supporting the Right to Die

Where Euthanasia Is Allowed

Voluntary euthanasia is illegal in the United States and most parts of the
world. Countries that do allow it include:5

 Belgium
 The Netherlands
 Luxembourg
 Canada
 Colombia

Involuntary euthanasia is illegal worldwide.

Who Can Choose It?

In places where voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are
legal, they’re only allowed if you have a terminal diagnosis. “Terminal”
means you cannot be cured and doctors expect you to die from your illness.

In order to legally end your life, you may also be asked to show that you’re
suffering severely from pain. Under the law, you may then be allowed to
decide when and how you want to die.

People in many states and countries are calling for more laws that will allow
them to choose when and how to end their lives. They call this "dying with
dignity." It's a topic that is hotly debated.3

While a growing number of people think assisted suicide or voluntary

euthanasia should be allowed, many others disagree. Those people say that
it’s not morally or ethically right for doctors to help people die.

In 2019, the American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Ethical and

Judicial Affairs (CEJA) sought to update their stance on assisted suicide.
They revealed two divergent and equally valued opinions on the matter. 67
On the one hand, many doctors argue that “physician-assisted suicide is
fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.” Doctors
should work on making terminally ill patients comfortable, not helping them
die.

On the other side, doctors argue that “a physician shall have compassion
and respect for human dignity and rights.” By responding to the request of
their patient to provide a lethal dose of medication that will relieve
intractable pain and suffering of an incurable disease, a doctor is indeed
expressing the highest level of care and compassion while
supporting dignity at the end of life.

The AMA stands divided, concluding that physicians who legally participate in
physician-assisted suicide are following their professional, ethical obligations
as are the physicians who decline to participate. Most importantly, there
should be full voluntary participation on the part of both patient and
physician in these sacred decisions about how to approach end of life care. 6

 10 Practical Tasks to Help You Deal With a Terminal Illness

Is Palliative Sedation Euthanasia?

No, nor is it physician-assisted suicide. Palliative sedation is when a doctor
gives a terminal patient medication that will ease severe pain. This practice
is sometimes more acceptable to people who disagree with assisted suicide
or voluntary euthanasia.

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics says it’s acceptable for doctors to give
sedatives to patients who are suffering, which are drugs that can relax the
body and put you to sleep.8 In these instances, the patient may remain
unconscious until their time of death. However, the drugs should never be
used to intentionally cause a person’s death.

Sedation that makes a patient unconscious might be done as part

of palliative care, which works to make a person as comfortable as possible
when they are in the final stages before death.

Palliative sedation requires:8

 Permission from the person who is sick or whoever is in charge of their
healthcare decisions if the patient is unable to understand the situation
and give consent
 A health care professional who can administer the drugs

Palliative sedatives are usually given in an IV that goes directly into the
bloodstream or as a suppository. A suppository is medication that’s inserted
into your rectum where it dissolves into the body.

Because the medication is fast-acting, sedatives must be given by a

physician, nurse, or other health care professional.

People do sometimes die while under heavy sedation, but that is not the goal
of the treatment. In these cases, it may not be clear whether someone died
because of the medication or the illness.9

Recap
Palliative sedation is not meant to end someone's life, but to heavily sedate
them so they feel little to no pain in the time before they die naturally.

Summary
There are clear legal differences between euthanasia and assisted suicide. In
euthanasia, a doctor performs an act that causes someone’s death. In
assisted suicide, a doctor gives an ill person the lethal means they can then
use to take their own life.

The arguments for or against ending a person’s life are never neat and clear.

It’s also important to understand that these are not the only ways to help a
terminally ill person who is in severe pain. Palliative medicine and hospice
care may offer other options for easing a loved one’s suffering.

A Word From Verywell

Whether or not to help someone die is an overwhelming question to
consider. There are also legal issues to think about.

Ultimately, you must decide what is the right thing to do. If you have a
loved one who is seriously ill, you should discuss all sides of the issue with
them sooner rather than later. This way, you can make the best decisions
when it’s time to think about their end-of-life care.