Currently, physician-assisted suicide is legal only in Oregon; however this has not prevented terminally ill patients residing out-of-state from seeking physician assistance in ending their lives. Terminally ill patients who have been unable to receive the assistance they so desperately seek often resort to drastic measures such as overdosing on prescription medicine, or creating their own suicide machines, which often end in botched attempts and leaves the patient in a worse state. Having a licensed physician preside over the suicide substantially increases the suicide success rate and ensures a less painful death, therefore, mentally competent, terminally ill patients for whom palliative care is no longer a viable option should be allowed the choice of physician-assisted suicide.
To truly understand the concept of physician-assisted suicide we must first familiarize ourselves with the terms that accompany it. The Oxford English Dictionary defines suicide as the act of taking one's own life; it originates from the Latin word suicidium when broken down sui, means of oneself, while cidium, is equivalent to the suffix -cide which means killer ("Suicide"). The Oxford English Dictionary also defines assisted suicide as suicide effected with the assistance of another person ("Assisted suicide"). One type of suicide is physician-assisted suicide. This act is clearly described by Ezekiel Emanuel when he states "a doctor supplies death-causing means, such as barbiturates, but the patient performs the act that brings about death" (214). Many of the world's religions frown upon suicide, as it is seen as wasting the most precious gift of all - life.
Euthanasia is another word that most often comes to mind when speaking assisted-suicide and is most often transposed with the phrase physician-assisted suicide. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, euthanasia is the means of bringing about a gentle and easy death ("Euthanasia").
