A Legal Insight into the Concepts of Suicide and Euthanasia within the Context of Individuality of Life

Abstract

Death is an inevitable occurrence in human existence. It is an event that puts an end to human life and
activities. This occurrence may be natural or unnatural. It is natural when it is an act of God and it is
unnatural when it is orchestrated by the victim himself or a third party. However, suicide and euthanasia
are concepts that deal with unnatural termination of human life through human activities. In the case of
suicide, the victim terminates his own life while in the case of euthanasia; the victim’s life is terminated on
his behalf by another. It is crystal clear that there are certain factors responsible for the deliberate and
assisted termination of one’s life. These are sensitive issues that attract a lot of sympathy and they are under
reported by the media. This study gave an insight into the concepts of suicide and euthanasia, their causes
and effects. This study adopted doctrinal research method, and it is descriptive in nature. The study relied
on both primary and secondary sources of data. These sources are case law, journal article, textbooks,
periodicals, online materials etc. This study found out that suicide and euthanasia are distinct concepts that
deal with human life while euthanasia otherwise known as assisted murder is legal in some countries and
performed on health ground with or without the consent of the victim, suicide is an act that is never justified
but rather condemnable. The study however concluded that both suicide and euthanasia are caused by
negative factors.