Assisted Suicide  Tags: euthansia ugl_subject_guide assisted_suicide ugl  

Assisted suicide
End-of-life decisions
Euthanasia
Death with Dignity Act
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
Health-care proxy
Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act
Life support
Living will
Mercy killing
Oregon
Parental rights
Pro-life movement
Right to die
Right to life
Terminal care
Terminal illness
Terri Schiavo

Should a person with a terminal illness have the right to choose to die? Should the family of a vegetative patient have the right to end her life by removing life-support? Such questions continue to incite heated debate amongst legal, medical, and political circles. The Right-to-Die/Right-to-Life issue involves assisted suicide and euthanasia. The American Medical Association defines assisted suicide as being "when a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing the necessary means and/or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act (eg, the physician provides sleeping pills and information about the lethal dose, while aware that the patient may commit suicide)." Euthanasia (or mercy killing) involves physicians and family members assisting in the death of a patient by withdrawing life support, for example. One of the major concerns about assisted suicide and euthanasia is that they could lead to policies that would allow for the involuntary killing of the aged and infirm.