Defining euthanasia for this report
Before this policy report can continue, it must first clarify what euthanasia is, and what form of euthanasia this policy report will be arguing for. Debate around euthanasia is often complicated and misinterpreted, and this confusion comes from a failure to define and clarify the term, ‘euthanasia’. The word euthanasia is a Greek word meaning ‘gentle easy death’. However, today there are many categories of euthanasia. The two categories that this policy report is seeking to legalize is voluntary active euthanasia (VAE), and physician assisted euthanasia (PAS).[i] VAE means with the request of the patient, and can be contrasted with ‘non-voluntary’ euthanasia (NVAE) and ‘involuntary’ euthanasia (IVAE). NVAE is given to those who do not have the mental ability to request euthanasia, or given to those who are competent but are not given the opportunity to consent to it. IVAE is euthanasia against the
will of a competent patient.[ii] PAS, the second form of euthanasia being argued for in this policy report, is where a doctor assists a patient to take his or her own life. Assistance may be given in the form of supplying the patient with the means to commit suicide, such as a lethal pill to be ingested.[iii]
[i] John Keown, Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy, 9.
[ii] Keown, Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy, 9.
[iii] Keown, Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy, 31.