assisted suicide assisted suicide assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. the term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (pas), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or another healthcare provider. once it is determined that the person's situation qualifies under the physician-assisted suicide laws for that location, the physician's assistance is usually limited to writing a prescription for a lethal dose of drugs. suicide social aspects altruistic copycat epidemic legislation philosophy religious views right to die voluntary euthanasia crisis assessment of risk crisis hotline (list) intervention prevention suicide watch types assisted bullying and suicide (list) copycat familicide forced honor jauhar mass murder–suicide prisoner suicide pact internet prayopavesa sallekhana sati self-sacrifice senicide seppuku sokushinbutsu suicide attack vatakkiruttal epidemiology gender differences methods rate by country youth suicide among lgbt youth history list of suicides suicide in antiquity list of suicides in the 21st century in warfare banzai charge kamikaze suicide mission related phenomena suicide attempt locations ideation major depressive disorder non-suicidal self-injury suicide note suicide terminology by country rate by country australia bangladesh cameroon canada china france greenland india iran ireland japan lithuania nepal pakistan romania russia singapore south korea spain sri lanka sweden switzerland ukraine united kingdom united states organizations compassion & choices death with dignity national center dignitas exit international final exit network hemlock society current status of assisted suicide around the world: physician-assisted suicide is legal legalized by court ruling, but not legislated or regulated physician-assisted suicide is illegal part of a series onhomicide murder note: varies by jurisdiction assassination child murder consensual homicide contract killing crime of passion depraved-heart murder felony murder rule foeticide honor killing human cannibalism human sacrifice child sacrifice internet homicide lonely hearts killer lust murder lynching mass murder mass shooting mass stabbing misdemeanor murder murder for body parts murder–suicide poisoning proxy murder pseudocommando serial killer angel of mercy spree killer thrill killing torture murder vehicle-ramming attack manslaughter in english law voluntary manslaughter negligent homicide vehicular homicide non-criminal homicide note: varies by jurisdiction war assisted suicide capital punishment euthanasia foeticide justifiable homicide "license to kill" by victim or victims suicide family avunculicide/nepoticide familicide mariticide uxoricide prolicide filicide infanticide neonaticide siblicide fratricide sororicide parricide matricide patricide senicide other crucifixion deicide democide friendly fire gendercide femicide androcide genocide omnicide regicide stoning tyrannicide war crime in many jurisdictions, helping a person die by suicide is a crime. people who support legalizing physician-assisted suicide want the people who assist in a voluntary death to be exempt from criminal prosecution for manslaughter or similar crimes. physician-assisted suicide is legal in some countries, under certain circumstances, including austria, belgium, canada, germany, luxembourg, the netherlands, new zealand, spain, switzerland, parts of the united states and all six states of australia. the constitutional courts of colombia, germany and italy legalized assisted suicide, but their governments have not legislated or regulated the practice yet. in most of those states or countries, to qualify for legal assistance, individuals who seek a physician-assisted suicide must meet certain criteria, including: having a terminal illness, proving they are of sound mind, voluntarily and repeatedly expressing their wish to die, and taking the specified, lethal dose by their own hand. the laws vary in scope from place to place. in the united states, pas is limited to those who have a prognosis of six months or less to live. in other countries such as germany, canada, switzerland, spain, italy, austria, belgium and the netherlands, a terminal diagnosis is not a requirement and voluntary euthanasia is additionally allowed. terminology secobarbital is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for physician-assisted suicide in the united states. suicide is the act of killing oneself. assisted suicide is when another person materially helps an individual person die by suicide, such as providing tools or equipment, while physician-assisted suicide involves a physician (doctor) "knowingly and intentionally providing a person with the knowledge or means or both required to commit suicide, including counseling about lethal doses of drugs, prescribing such lethal doses or supplying the drugs". assisted suicide is contrasted to euthanasia, sometimes referred to as mercy killing, where the person dying does not directly bring about their own death, but is killed in order to stop the person from experiencing further suffering. euthanasia can occur with or without consent, and can be classified as voluntary, non-voluntary or involuntary. killing a person who is suffering and who consents is called voluntary euthanasia. this is currently legal in some regions. if the person is unable to provide consent it is referred to as non-voluntary euthanasia. killing a person who does not want to die, or who is capable of giving consent and whose consent has not been solicited, is the crime of involuntary euthanasia, and is regarded as murder. right to die is the belief that people have a right to die, either through various forms of suicide, euthanasia, or refusing life-saving medical treatment. suicidism can be defined as "the quality or state of being suicidal" or as "... an oppressive system (stemming from non-suicidal perspectives) functioning at the normative, discursive, medical, legal, social, political, economic, and epistemic levels in which suicidal people experience multiple forms of injustice and violence..." assisted dying versus assisted suicide some advocates for assisted suicide strongly oppose the use of "assisted suicide" and "suicide" when referring to physician-assisted suicide, and prefer phrases like "medical aid in dying" or "assisted dying". the motivation for this is to distance the debate from the suicides commonly performed by those not terminally ill and not eligible for assistance where it is legal. they feel those cases have negatively impacted the word "suicide" to the point that it should not be used to refer to the practice of a physician prescribing lethal drugs to a person with a terminal illness. however, in certain jurisdictions, like canada, "aid in dying" does not require a person's natural death to be reasonably foreseeable in order to be eligible for maid. moreover, the term "assisted dying" is also used to refer to other practices like voluntary euthanasia and terminal sedation. physician-assisted suicide arguments for arguments in support of assisted death include respect for patient autonomy, equal treatment of terminally ill patients on and off life support, compassion, personal liberty, transparency and ethics of responsibility. when death is imminent (half a year or less) patients can choose to have assisted death as a medical option to shorten what the person perceives to be an unbearable dying process. death with dignity is coined as the united states national leader in end of life advocacy and policy reform. the organization has been advocating for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since 1994. pain is mostly not reported as the primary motivation for seeking physician-assisted suicide in the united states; the three most frequently mentioned end‐of‐life concerns reported by oregon residents who took advantage of the death with dignity act in 2015 were: decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable (96.2%), loss of autonomy (92.4%), and loss of dignity (75.4%). oregon statistics a study of hospice nurses and social workers in oregon reported that symptoms of pain, depression, anxiety, extreme air hunger and fear of the process of dying were more pronounced among hospice patients who did not request a lethal prescription for barbiturates, the drug used for physician-assisted death. a journal of palliative medicine report on patterns of hospice use noted that oregon was in both the highest quartile of hospice use and the lowest quartile of potentially concerning patterns of hospice use. a similar trend was found in vermont, where aid-in-dying (aid) was authorized in 2013. in february 2016, oregon released a report on its 2015 numbers. in 2015, there were 218 people in the state who were approved and received the lethal drugs to end their own life. of that 218, 132 terminally ill patients ultimately decided to ingest drugs, resulting in their death. according to the state of oregon public health division's survey, the majority of the participants, 78%, were 65 years of age or older and predominantly white, 93.1%. 72% of the terminally ill patients who opted for ending their own lives had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. in the state of oregon's 2015 survey, they asked the terminally ill who were participating in medical aid in dying, what their biggest end-of-life concerns were: 96.2% of those people mentioned the loss of the ability to participate in activities that once made them enjoy life, 92.4% mentioned the loss of autonomy, or the independence of their own thoughts or actions, and 75.4% stated loss of their dignity. washington state statistics an increasing trend in deaths caused by ingesting lethal doses of medications prescribed by physicians was also noted in washington: from 64 deaths in 2009 to 202 deaths in 2015. among the deceased, 72% had terminal cancer and 8% had neurodegenerative diseases (including als). u.s. polls polls conducted by gallup dating back to 1947 posit the question, "when a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed to end the patient's life by some painless means if the patient and his family request it?" show support for the practice increasing from 37% in 1947 to a plateau of approximately 75% lasting from approximately 1990 to 2005. when the polling question was modified as such so the question posits "severe pain" as opposed to an incurable disease, "legalization" as opposed to generally allowing doctors, and "patient suicide" rather than physician-administered voluntary euthanasia, public support was substantially lower, by approximately 10% to 15%. a poll conducted by national journal and regence foundation found that both oregonians and washingtonians were more familiar with the terminology "end-of-life care" than the rest of the country and residents of both states are slightly more aware of the terms palliative and hospice care. a survey from the journal of palliative medicine found that family caregivers of patients who chose assisted death were more likely to find positive meaning in caring for a patient and were more prepared for accepting a patient's death than the family caregivers of patients who did not request assisted death. safeguards many current assisted death laws contain provisions that are intended to provide oversight and investigative processes to prevent abuse. this includes eligibility and qualification processes, mandatory state reporting by the medical team, and medical board oversight. in oregon and other states, two doctors and two witnesses must assert that a person's request for a lethal prescription was not coerced or under undue influence. these safeguards include proving one's residency and eligibility. the patient must meet with two physicians and they must confirm the diagnoses before one can continue the procedure; in some cases, they do include a psychiatric evaluation as well to determine whether or not the patient is making this decision on their own. the next steps are two oral requests, a waiting period of a minimum of 15 days before making the next request. a written request which must be witnessed by two different people, one of which cannot be a family member, and then another waiting period by the patient's doctor in which they say whether they are eligible for the drugs or not ("death with dignity"). the debate about whether these safeguards work is debated between opponents and proponents. a 1996 survey of oregon emergency physicians found that "only 37% indicated that the oregon initiative has enough safeguards to protect vulnerable persons." 83% agreed that patients "might feel pressure because of burden to others" and 70% agreed that patients "might feel pressure because of financial concerns". unitarian universalism according to a 1988 general resolution, "unitarian universalists advocate the right to self-determination in dying, and the release from civil or criminal penalties of those who, under proper safeguards, act to honor the right of terminally ill patients to select the time of their own deaths". hippocratic oath some doctors remind that physician-assisted suicide is contrary to the hippocratic oath, which is the oath historically taken by physicians. it states "i will not give a lethal drug to anyone if i am asked, nor will i advise such a plan.". the original oath however has been modified many times and, contrary to popular belief, is not required by most modern medical schools, nor confers any legal obligations on individuals who choose to