asing drug dosages for pain relief that may have the so-called double effect of ending the patient's life. AMA distinguishes between these definitions and passive euthanasia, in which doctor, patient, or "patient's proxy" in the form of living will, durable power of attorney, or other advanced health-care directive, authorizes withdrawal or withholding of life-support treatments when disadvantage outweighs advantage (Glasson 93-4, et passim).
The National Association of Social Workers uses the term passive euthanasia to describe withdrawing or withholding of artificial or "medically inappropriate" life support in hopeless cases, while palliative care is the name NASW uses for medical intervention intended for pain relief but not cure. Compare this with the term voluntary active euthanasia, or a physician's "administering a lethal dose after a clearly competent patient makes a fully voluntary and persistent request for aid in dying" (NASW 58). NASW's definition of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) coincides with the AMA's definition of assisted suicide; however, whereas the AMA distinguishes between the act of suicide and the doctor's providing means and knowledge, the NASW says that "physician and the patient are both involved" (NASW 58), insofar as the physician complies with the specific request of the (mentally competent) patient.
If one accepts the moral weight of individual agency and will, then definitions of euthanasia involve a right to control over one's body in general and control of when life should be withdrawn in particular; in turn this involves acceptance on the part of others a decision on the part of the individual to pursue voluntary termination. Now this does not mean that others should stand by when a mildly depressed and suicidal individual wants to end it all. All of this is predicated of the assumption that certain conditions about the individual's life will have been met before the question of voluntary euth...