Consensual homicide
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| Homicide |
|---|
| Murder |
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Assassination |
| Manslaughter |
| Non-criminal homicide |
| Other types of homicide |
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Democide |
| Suicide |
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| History of suicide |
| List of suicides |
| Suicide rate |
| Views on suicide |
| Medical | Cultural |
| Legal | Philosophical |
| Religious | Right to die |
| Suicide crisis |
| Intervention | Prevention |
| Crisis hotline | Suicide watch |
| Types of suicide |
| Suicide methods | Copycat suicide |
| Cult suicide | Euthanasia |
| Familicide | Forced suicide |
| Internet suicide | Mass suicide |
| Murder-suicide | Ritual suicide |
| Suicide attack | Suicide pact |
| Suicide by cop | Teenage suicide |
| Related phenomena |
| Parasuicide | Self-harm |
| Suicidal ideation | Suicide note |
Consensual homicide, also called assisted suicide, refers to a killing in which the victim wants to die.
[edit] Euthanasia
The more common form is physician-assisted suicide, in which terminally ill people seek assistance from their doctors (or family members) to alleviate their suffering by ending their lives. This practice is legal in some jurisdictions, but remains controversial because of the legal, ethical and practical issues it raises. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is the most well-known advocate of this practice. Another notable case is suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams, who claimed that patient Edith Alice Morrell - for whose murder he was tried in 1957 - had wanted to die. He was controversially found not guilty but later suspected of murdering up to 163 of his patients[1].
Attempts to legalize assisted suicide in various US states have failed in recent years. Notably, California has rejected this practice in 1992, 1999, 2005, 2006 and 2007[citation needed]. Opposition to assisted suicide legalization came from a wide range of organizations including the California Medical Association, dozens of disability rights organizations, faith-based organizations, and Latino and civil rights groups.
[edit] Exceptional cases
In 1996 a Maryland entrepreneur named Sharon Lopatka arranged for her own torture and strangulation over the Internet, and in 2001 German Armin Meiwes was found to have murdered and cannibalized a willing victim he found over the internet. These two cases attracted considerable media attention. Both victims appear to have fully consented to their killings. Beyond their lurid sexual details, both cases introduce paradoxes about the respective responsibility of the parties, the legal differences between consensual homicide and suicide.
[edit] References
- ^ Cullen, Pamela V., "A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams", London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, ISBN 1-904027-19-9
