We are going to be devoting one blog post every week over the next several weeks to euthanasia and assisted suicide: what it is, and what it is NOT; stories and statistics abroad, in Canada, and in the United States; and conclude by talking about how to stop it here in Pennsylvania.

First, let’s consider assisted suicide, or what we refer to as “doctor-prescribed suicide.”  By definition, assisted suicide is when one person is directly or intentionally involved with ending the life of another person–essentially aiding, encouraging, or counseling someone to die by suicide. What many don’t often realize is that in most cases of doctor-prescribed suicide, all the doctor does is issue a prescription for a lethal dose of medication; he or she is not even generally present when the pills are taken.  The victim takes the prescription, fills it like any other prescription, and takes the medication that ends his or her life whenever he or she feels like it.  Doctor prescribed suicide is not “aid in dying” or “assisted death” as pro-death advocates like to pretend.

Euthanasia is the direct and intentional cause of death, usually done by lethal injection.  The only difference between euthanasia and murder is the misguided intent to relieve suffering. It is not about withdrawing medical treatment, or the proper use of pain killing drugs or sedation.  Sometimes in euthanasia cases the victim requests euthanasia for a variety of reasons, but involuntary euthanasia, in which one person decides that another person’s life doesn’t have value and ends it, also occurs.