Distinguish physician-assisted suicide from euthanasia.

• A. Euthanasia is when the patient administers the medication to themselves.
• B. In PAS, the physician actively causes death.
• C. Physician-assisted suicide involves the patient self-administering medication prescribed by a physician; euthanasia involves the physician actively causing death.
• D. PAS and euthanasia are identical.

Answer: (C)

The key distinction is who carries out the final act of dying. In physician-assisted suicide, the physician provides the means (often a prescription for a lethal medication) and the patient self-administers it, so the patient is the one who ends their own life. The physician’s role is to facilitate and inform, not to directly perform the act. In euthanasia, the physician directly administers the life-ending medication, actively causing the death. So the essential difference is that PAS shifts the final act to the patient, while euthanasia centers the act in the physician. This is why the correct description is that PAS involves the patient self-administering medication prescribed by a physician, whereas euthanasia involves the physician actively causing death.