'''Assisted suicide''' – referred to by proponents as medical aid in dying -– means a procedure in which people take lethal drugs to end their own lives with the help of others, usually medical professionals. <ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last= |first= |date=30 October 2023 |title=assisted suicide |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/assisted-suicide |access-date=8 November 2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Brittanica |vauthors=}}</ref> The term usually refers to '''physician-assisted suicide''' ('''PAS'''), which is a hotly contested issue. In the USA it is typically introduced as is an end of life measure for a person suffering a painful, terminal illness, but in other jurisdictions the act has been expanded to people with disabilities, even if the disabled community largely objects. <ref name="Assisted Suicide State Laws">{{cite web |author= |date=July 2020 |title=physician-assisted suicide |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/physician-assisted_suicide |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=}}</ref> In the USA,if it is determined that the person's situation qualifies under the physician-assisted suicide laws for that location, the physician's assistance is usually limited to writing a [[Drug prescription|prescription]] for a lethal dose of drugs.
In some jurisdictions, helping a person die is illegal. People who support legalizing physician-assisted suicide want the people who assist in a voluntary death to be exempt from criminal prosecution for [[manslaughter]] or similar crimes. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in some countries, under certain circumstances, including [[Austria]], [[Belgium]], [[Assisted suicide in Canada|Canada]], [[Germany]], [[Luxembourg]], the [[Netherlands]], [[New Zealand]], [[Portugal]], [[Spain]], [[Switzerland]], [[Assisted suicide in the United States|parts of the United States]] and all six states of [[Euthanasia in Australia|Australia]]. The constitutional courts of [[Colombia]], Germany and Italy legalized assisted suicide, but their governments have not legislated or regulated the practice yet.
