And the difference between euthanasia and physician assisted death is subtle but essential. In both cases, the physician prescribes the lethal drugs. In euthanasia the physician is responsible for the administering of the lethal drugs to the patient. In physician-assisted suicide, the physician assists the patient in taking the lethal drug, her or himself. In both cases, the doctor must however be aware of the proposed effects of the quality and quantity of the lethal drugs.
Many patients prefer assisted death to show their departure is their own ultimate wish.
Another reason is that they do not want to make things too difficult for their attending physicians. My dear friend, Jacques Pouillet, of France pointed out in his book La Mort Opportune, published in 1998, that euthanasia or physician assisted suicide is not a choice between life and death but a choice between two different ways of dying. At the moment, euthanasia and physician assisted suicide is possible but still liable to punishment if the physician cannot prove that he or she acted according to the conditions. Each case of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide must be notified to the coroner as an unnatural death. The coroner conducts a post mortem and informs the public prosecutor, who decides whether or not to permit burial or cremation.