euthanasia
Euthanasia is the intentional act of ending another person’s life, usually by a physician administering a lethal drug, for the purpose of relieving suffering from a serious or incurable condition. It differs from assisted suicide (also called physician-assisted dying or medical aid in dying), in which a physician provides the means but the patient self-administers the lethal medication. The central distinction is who performs the final act: In euthanasia, another party; in assisted suicide, the patient themself.
Euthanasia is categorized by consent and capacity:
- Voluntary euthanasia occurs when a competent person gives informed consent to end their life.
- Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when a person cannot consent (for example, due to unconsciousness or severe incapacity) and a surrogate decision-maker authorizes it.
- Involuntary euthanasia, in which death is carried out against the person’s wishes, is widely condemned as unethical and illegal.
In the United States, active euthanasia is illegal in all states. By contrast, assisted suicide/medical aid in dying is legally permitted under specific safeguards in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, and most recently Delaware (2025). In Montana, physician aid in dying is protected through a 2009 state supreme court decision (Baxter v. Montana) rather than through legislation.
Euthanasia is more commonly practiced in veterinary medicine, where animals are humanely put to death to end suffering. In human medicine, ethical and legal systems generally allow withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining treatment (for example, removal from a ventilator), but that practice is classified as allowing natural death, not euthanasia.
[Last reviewed in October of 2025 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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