THE "RIGHT TO DIE": Euthanasia VS Assisted Suicide

A study shows that most Americans die a painful death by spending 10 or more days in an intensive care unit.

Throughout North America, committing suicide or attempting to commit suicide is no longer a criminal offense. However, helping another person commit suicide is a criminal act. One exception is the state of Oregon, which allows people who are terminally ill and in intractable pain to get a lethal prescription from their physician. This is called "Physician Assisted Suicide" or PAS.

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

EUTHANASIA VS ASSISTED SUICIDE
So is there a difference between Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide? Well, to determine this you must first understand the two kinds of Euthanasia. The first type is called Passive Euthanasia. This is considered not delivering CPR, removing someone from life support or putting an end to medical procedures.
The second kind is called Active Euthanasia. This involves causing the death of a person through a direct action, in response to a request from that person – i.e. Jack Kevorkian.
Then there’s Assisted Suicide (a.k.a: P.A.S Physician Assisted Suicide). This is when a physician supplies information and/or the means of committing suicide (e.g. a prescription for lethal dose of sleeping pills, or a supply of carbon monoxide gas) to a person, so that they can easily terminate their own life. PAS is currently legal, under severe restrictions, only in the American state of Oregon, Belgium, Switzerland and in the Netherlands. In other jurisdictions, they are forced to continue living against their wish, until their body eventually collapses, or until a family member or friend commits a criminal act by helping them commit suicide.

WHY DO PEOPLE WANT TO END THEIR LIFE EARLY?

SHOULD THIS BE LEGAL?
Many seem to think so. Sue Rodriguez forced the right-to-die debate into the spotlight in Canada. As her body withered under a terminal illness in the early 1990s, the Victoria woman fought to overturn a law that banned assisted suicide. The Supreme Court of Canada ultimately ruled against Rodriguez, but her struggle galvanized the public. In addition in Luxembourg legislation would have permitted euthanasia was lost by a single vote in March 2003.

Opponents fear that vulnerable individuals may be coerced into assisted suicide to ease the financial burden of caring for them. They also worried that assisted suicide would ease pressure to provide better palliative care and for new cures and therapies.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Many faiths feel that assisted suicide goes against their beliefs in higher powers. They feel that every life is planned out and that no one individual has the right to decide when to terminate their existence. What is your opinion?
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SOURCES:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/euthanas.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/assistedsuicide/