A physician providing, at the patient’s voluntary and competent request, a prescription for a lethal dose of medication that the patient can self-administer by ingestion, with the explicit intention of ending life.

Adequate palliative care should be the standard of care for treatment of suffering at the end of life. PAD should only be considered (if ever) as a last resort when such treatment has failed.

Other terms are used to describe this practice, including “physician-assisted suicide” (a term favored by its opponents) and ”death with dignity” (a term that some suggest could induce its use). The legal terminology varies by location.

Adapted from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Statement on Physician-Assisted Dying; and The Hastings Center. Physician-Assisted Dying. Internet. Available at http://aahpm.org/positions/pad and https://www.thehastingscenter.org/briefingbook/physician-assisted-death/. Accessed on July 22, 2022.