A teacher I once had in high school often talked about his father living in a poorhouse. His father had suffered from dementia for years. He often talked about how on his “good” days he would beg his husband to put a pillow over his head and smother him, to put him out of his misery. If it had been legal, her husband would have gladly helped his father and put him out of his suffering, however in the state of North Carolina physician assisted suicide is illegal. Fortunately, his father passed away this year and he is finally free from pain and suffering. However, if doctor-assisted suicide were legal, his father would not have to suffer for so long. Before we explore the aspects of physician-assisted suicide, let's examine exactly what physician-assisted suicide entails. When it comes to medically assisted suicide, many people believe it is equivalent to euthanasia. Euthanasia involves a doctor actively injecting a patient with a legal drug to end life (Engdahl 16). This, however, is not the case with medically assisted suicide. According to “Assisted Suicide Overview” by Lee Stingl and M. Alexander, physician-assisted suicide is any case in which a doctor provides a patient (usually someone with a terminal illness) with the means to carry out their own suicide. Typically this is done by providing access to a lethal dose of drugs, which the patient then self-administers. In other words, physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor helps a patient end their life by prescribing lethal drugs (Engdahl 16). It is completely up to him whether the patient decides to take the drugs or not. Currently, medically assisted suicide is not legal nationwide, it is only legal...... middle of paper ......and he still remembered his family. Works Cited Ebrahimi, Nargus. "The ethics of euthanasia". Australian Medical Student Journal 3.1 (2012): 73-75. Network. April 26, 2014.Egendorf, Laura K. Assisted suicide. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, INC., 1998. Print.Engdahl, Sylvia. Assisted suicide. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2009. Print.Hulkower, Raphael. "The Story of the Hippocratic Oath: Outdated, Inauthentic, and Yet Still Relevant." Einstein Journal of Biology & Medicine 25.26 (2010): 41-44. Network. April 26, 2014. Lee Stingl, M. Alexander. “Overview of Assisted Suicide.” Salem Press Encyclopedia (2013): Research Starters. Network. April 25, 2014. Quill, Timothy E. “Physicians Should 'Assist Suicide' When Appropriate.” Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 40.1 (2012): 57-65. CINAHL. Network. 25 April 2014. The Catholic Bible in the public domain. Ed. Ronald L. Conte Jr. Np, 2009. Print.