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Until after a Supreme Court ruling in 2006 threw out a Justice Department effort to block Oregonâs law, no other state permitted assisted suicide. Washington adopted its measure in 2008. Several northern European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, also allow assisted suicide.
Other euphemisms in common use are physician-assisted dying, physician-assisted death. Physician-assisted suicide is often confused with euthanasia (sometimes called mercy killing). In cases of euthanasia the physician administers the means of death, usually a lethal drug. In physician-assisted suicide (PAS) the patient self-administers the means of death. Assisted suicide is prohibited by common law or criminal statute in all U.S. states; medical aid in dying is specifically authorized in 5 U.S. states: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana and California.