ABSTRACT
Euthanasia is where medication is administered to a person at their express request and consent, which has the direct aim or intention of hastening the patient's death. Euthanasia involves not merely assisting another to commit suicide, but actually bringing about the death of another. Euthanasia differs from 'physician-assisted suicide', a hybrid of euthanasia and assisted suicide where the person seeks assistance from a medical practitioner but the patient administers the lethal drug themselves. Physician-assisted suicide is illegal. The word 'euthanasia' derives from the Greek, meaning 'good death' and refers to the practice whereby a person seeks to end their life prematurely in order to alleviate their pain and suffering. Assisted suicide, as the term suggests, is where assistance is given to the person in order that the person can end his or her own life. The motive is the same for both euthanasia and assisted suicide: to relieve the person from their suffering.
