ABSTRACT
In current research literature “assisted death” or “aid-in-dying” are the terms most frequently used for what previously was commonly referred to as “assisted suicide,” or “physician-assisted suicide.” Advocacy organizations for assisted death also generally use the terms “assisted death” or “aid-in-dying,” as they feel they more appropriately reect the procedure involved with this mode of death. In my presentations based on my research on the topic of bereavement following a death under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, I also use the term “assisted death,” rather than “assisted suicide,” and it usually hits a nerve for someone in the audience, initially triggering an outcry of disapproval and shock:
How can you call it assisted death when clearly it’s suicide? These people are killing themselves! That’s a suicide!
