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Definition of assisted suicide
: suicide committed by someone with assistance from another person especially : physician-assisted suicide
Examples of assisted suicide in a Sentence
a doctor who has been involved in several assisted suicides
an opponent of assisted suicide
Recent Examples on the Web The law that was introduced to stop organized assisted suicide passed Parliament with a solid majority in 2015.
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New York Times, "German Court Overturns Ban on Assisted Suicide," 26 Feb. 2020 Here’s what else is happening Germany: The country’s highest court overturned a ban on organized medically assisted suicide, an issue with special resonance in a country where Nazi doctors euthanized hundreds of thousands during World War II.
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Tom Wright-piersanti, New York Times, "Coronavirus, Wisconsin Shooting, Syrian Refugees: Your Thursday Briefing," 26 Feb. 2020 But the Sisters of St. Martha, the order of Catholic nuns who used to operate the hospital, said in a statement that assisted suicides will not take place at the hospital itself.
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Scottie Andrew, CNN, "A Catholic hospital in Canada has been ordered to provide assisted-suicide services," 23 Sep. 2019 The Maine bill says getting or giving life-ending medication does not qualify as suicide under state law, effectively legalizing the practice often called medically assisted suicide.
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Kristin Lam, USA TODAY, "Maine legalizes medically assisted suicide, joining seven other states and District of Columbia," 12 June 2019 The Catholic Church opposes assisted suicide as a violation of divine law.
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Scottie Andrew, CNN, "A Catholic hospital in Canada has been ordered to provide assisted-suicide services," 23 Sep. 2019 Colorado voters legalized assisted suicide by passing the End of Life Options Act in 2016.
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Meg Wingerter, The Denver Post, "Doctor fired for attempting to help patient use Colorado’s aid-in-dying law lands new job," 25 Oct. 2019 The better the delivery of palliative and hospice care, the less the public is likely to support assisted suicide.
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Wesley J. Smith, National Review, "Congress Should Pass the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," 27 Sep. 2019 In Maryland, lawmakers in the House of Delegates passed a bill that would have legalized medically assisted suicide, but the measure was defeated in the state Senate.
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Cody Boteler, baltimoresun.com, "Owings Mills man has gone from pharmacist to patient to death with dignity advocate," 27 Sep. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'assisted suicide.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for assisted suicide
The first known use of assisted suicide was in 1884
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