Talk:Assisted suicide

"Harvesting Organs"

The section of the article reads,

"Conflict of interest

Physicians and healthcare practitioners may have a conflict of interest when it comes to harvesting organs from assisted suicide patients. While there may be few candidates, the conflict nevertheless may exist in some cases, raising serious ethical questions."

This may be true (though I doubt it)--but in any case, without any supplementary information, it reads as a straight opinion. This should probably either be expanded upon, or removed entirely.

Merge with Voluntary euthanasia

The overlap between this article and Voluntary euthanasia is substantial. There is a slight difference in terminology sometimes - the distinction between killing someone upon their request, vs. providing someone the means to kill themselves painlessly. This is such a fine distinction that both articles end up explaining it and covering issues on both sides of it. It would be a lot easier for readers if there was a single article that simply explained the distinction as needed (such as when describing what is legal in a particular jurisdiction). The title of the combined article should be something that is generally agreed to cover both. Not sure what if there is a strong consensus for what that should be; maybe "assisted dying" as suggested in the intro of Assisted suicide?

There is also substantial overlap with Right to die#By country, which it would be easier to deal with if there were a single, canonical list for legal status to refer readers of "Right to die" to. -- Beland (talk) 16:16, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

There is a significant difference when you are prosecuted... The Banner talk 17:50, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

I'd oppose a merge - in both ethics and law, these are considered to be significantly different. Given the complexities of each topic, it seems best to address them separately. - Bilby (talk) 14:21, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

N Oppose merge for reasons stated Ratel (talk) 20:42, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

Homicide? NPOV?

User:7&6=thirteen's addition of the "Homicide" sidebar does not seem to be WP:NPOV - suggest removal but I am hesitant to so so myself as the topic seems contentious.

Opinions please?

Well I guess User:Bilby just answered that one

EncycloCanuck (talk) 08:40, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, I should have commented. Yes, I agree with you - assisted suicide isn't generally classified as homicide, as the person takes their own life, and is therefore categorized separately. In the past we've had arguments regarding euthanasia, but as in euthanasia someone else takes a life there is more of a cause to draw the connection, although the word "homicide" tends to carry a certain amount of baggage. I was also concerned about the sue of the euthanasia sidebar - less of a POV problem, but while the two are debated in the same areas, and we include assisted suicide in the euthanasia sidebar and vice versa, they are generally classified as different things. - Bilby (talk) 08:51, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

Assisted suicide is prohibited by common law or criminal statute in all U.S. states?

Looking at the line in the lead sentence -

"Assisted suicide is prohibited by common law or criminal statute in all U.S. states"

Is this strictly true? Can we get a reference. I think a lot of people refer to what's going on in California and Oregon and Vermont and DC, etc as "assisted suicide". NickCT (talk) 21:04, 1 December 2016 (UTC) " This really does need to be amended. Medical Aid in Dying is an "exception to the rule against Assisted Suicide. This would be a better way of phrasing it otherwise the distinction makes no sense at all (since the practice in Oregon etc clearly falls under the definition of assisted suicide). The difference, thus expressed, would still be valid (rather than just saying "it is illegal except in ...") The phrase Medical Aid in Dying refers to the action in those states where the various aspects of the action have gone through the due process of law, making it very different from a broader term such as assisted suicide. Parzivalamfortas 21:27, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

US-centricity in the lead

Does anyone else feel the current lead is a little US-centric? Why are we calling out legal status of individual US states in the lead? Can you push all of this to Assisted suicide in the United States? NickCT (talk) 21:07, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

I agree that this much detail on the U.S. doesn't need to be in the introduction of this page since this page is the global context.Jmlsmal1127 (talk) 17:52, 7 December 2016 (UTC)