Assistance in dying: Dax’s Case and other reflections on the issue

Abstract

Euthanasia is a Greek word which means a “good death”. In this article, the authors discuss various concepts, such as euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, mercy killing, and assistance in dying. They argue that involuntary euthanasia is an act of murder, and that to die is to go through the process of dying. The article explains the difference between physicianassisted dying and assistance in dying. The former may flow from the latter, which represents a request for help to die from a particular group of health care professionals. From an ethical point of view, it may appear a matter of semantics, but “assistance in dying” is preferred as a term because it does not carry the same weight concerning judgemental connotations as do the terms “suicide” and “murder”.