ABSTRACT
To reframe the manner in which we think about this subject, we need to change the semantics. There is a need to separate the act of "suicide" from a "hastened" or "assisted" death.
1. The person has an irreversible, terminal condition close to the end stages of the disease (Werth, 1996, p. 62). 6 The guidelines of the Seattle Compassion in Dying organization include confirmation of the patient's condition by two physicians, attesting it is terminal within six months. They also state "the patient's condition must cause severe, unrelenting suffering which the patient finds unacceptable and intolerable" (Preston and Mero, 1996, p. 185).
