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Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia

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Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide is the act of deliberately assisting or encouraging another person to kill themselves ("Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide ," 2014). When talking about assisted suicide there are two types: Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) and Euthanasia. Although they both have very similar goals but, they differ in which role the physician has in the action that finally ends life. Euthanasia can be defined as “the act of bringing about the death of a hopelessly ill and suffering person in a relatively quick and painless way for reasons of mercy” ("Physician-Assisted Suicide - Introduction," n.d.). Thus meaning that during euthanasia the physician performs the intervention by either injecting the patient with a large dose of medication, or completely withholding or withdrawing treatment that is necessary to maintain life("Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide ," 2014). Physician-assisted suicide can be defined as “the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life” ("Physician-assisted Suicide," 2012). This means that the physician provides the necessary means or information to complete the intervention but the patient performs the act themselves ("Physician-Assisted Suicide - Introduction," n.d.). Throughout this paper I will be examining both facts and issues surrounding assisted suicide. Euthanasia can be broken up into 5 different categories. These
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