Mercy Killing

The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


The act of facilitating death in a terminally ill patient, whether by deliberate activity, such as the administration of drugs that hasten death (known as active euthanasia), 

or passive, as in the withholding of life-extending treatment (passive euthanasia).

Jonas: Mosby's Dictionary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. (c) 2005, Elsevier.


For detailed information ond upcoming symposiums on this topic, please go to www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca