assisted suicide
10
6.7
- noun
- /əˈsɪstɪd ˈsaɪɪˌdaɪ/
- NSFW
:
suicidio asistido
- Remember that assisted suicide is available only to those patients who are hopelessly terminal.
- physician-assisted suicide
- voluntary assisted suicide
- legalization of assisted suicide
Intense public debate over the ethics behind euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.
- Intense public debate over the ethics behind euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.
- And we're already seeing more and more of that with practices like euthanasia and assisted suicide.
- So, all right, if you had a slow, painful terminal illness, let's call it cancer, would you do assisted suicide?
- It's, you know, you're just outsourcing that to the state and, and which, which makes physician assisted suicide in euthanasia legal, but it really is suicide.
Examples
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No states have followed Oregon's archetypal action in legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
Academic text (2000) -
Representative public opinion polls in this country appear to demonstrate widespread approval for the legalization of assisted suicide.
Academic text (1994) -
The technical aspects of physician-assisted suicide appear to be relatively simple.
Academic text (2000) -
Physician-assisted suicide, which is also called "physician aid in dying," is legal in Oregon and Washington.
Academic text (2011) -
Assuming its physician-assisted suicide law becomes effective, events in the state of Oregon will provide a natural experiment.
Academic text (1997) -
The case focused public attention on the ethical issues of both assisted suicide and active, voluntary euthanasia.
Academic text (2000) -
The legality of assisted suicide is unclear in 5 (Choice in Dying 2000).
Academic text (2000) -
However, he also acknowledged that there is debate among social workers about the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
Academic text (2011) -
Legislatures in 38 states passed laws to prohibit physician-assisted suicide, and seven others ruled it homicide (Public Agenda, 2001).
Academic text (2011) -
Supporters say that having the option of assisted suicide allows individuals with terminal illnesses to die peacefully and without pain.
Synonyms
37
7.5
To cause a painless death for a dying person to end their suffering
7
6.3
Ending a person's life to stop their pain when they are very ill
5
7.0
A doctor gives medicine to help a person end their life
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the deliberate act of ending one's life with help from another' is directly derivable from combining 'assisted' (with help) and 'suicide' (deliberate self-caused death). Legal or ethical distinctions (e.g., euthanasia vs. physician-assisted death) are not predictable from the words, but the core meaning is immediately clear to a learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Assisted suicide comes from the words assisted, meaning 'help', and suicide, meaning 'to kill oneself'. Imagine someone too weak or in great pain and another person giving help to end their life, and that image is why the phrase means 'ending a person's life with help', often to stop suffering.