Suicide derives from the Latin word suicidium meaning to kill oneself. So suicide means the act of intentionally taking one’s own life. It is often committed because if despair, depression or stress due to financial, family or relationship problems, or unhappiness with one’s own life. Euthanasia, on the other hand, means the act of intentionally taking other person’s life. What makes euthanasia different from killing? Some doctors, for example, are entitled to apply euthanasia on those who are very sick and who have no chance for life and suffer from pain. There are different types of euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia means when one helps somebody who is sick to take their own life. Passive euthanasia refers to when one is on life support and asks for being taken off it. Active voluntary euthanasia is when one asks for drogues or supplement to kill themselves. The sufferer’s intention to end their pain stands behind all these kinds of euthanasia. Non-voluntary euthanasia means when one is in a vegetative state. In this case, the relatives ask for taking away the sufferer’s life. Involuntary euthanasia refers to the killing of a person who is not explicitly requested aid dying. This term is used with respect of patients who are in a persistent vegetative state and will probably never recover. This is sometimes considered as murder.
