In physician-assisted suicide, who administers or provides the medication?

• A. The physician directly administers the lethal medication.
• B. The patient self-administers the medication with no physician involvement.
• C. The physician administers it with the explicit consent of the patient.
• D. The physician provides medication for the patient to self-administer to die.

Answer: (D)

In physician-assisted suicide, the physician’s role is to provide or prescribe the medication that the patient will self-administer to end their life. The patient handles the final act themselves, which distinguishes it from euthanasia, where the physician directly administers the lethal agent. If there’s no physician involvement at all, it isn’t physician-assisted suicide. If the physician administers the drug, even with the patient’s explicit consent, that would be euthanasia rather than physician-assisted suicide. So the correct understanding is that the physician provides the medication for the patient to self-administer to die.