The term "right to die" refers to various issues around to the death of an individual when that person could continue to live with the aid of life support or in a diminished or enfeebled capacity. In some cases, it refers to the idea that a person with a terminal illness and in serious condition should be allowed to commit suicide before death would otherwise occur.

Most often, the idea of the right to die is related to a person's wish that caregivers allow death—for example, by not providing life support or vital medication— under certain conditions when recovery is highly unlikely or impossible. It may also refer to issues regarding physician-assisted suicide. It may be called passive euthanasia in cases where the patient is unable to make decisions about treatment. Living wills and Do Not Resuscitate orders are legal instruments that make a patient's treatment decisions known ahead of time; allowing a patient to die based on such decisions is not considered to be euthanasia. Usually these patients have also made explicit their wish to receive only palliative care to reduce pain and suffering

See also

• Patient refusal of nutrition and hydration
• Living will
• Oregon's Death with Dignity Act
• Texas' Advance Directives Act
• Euthanasia
• Suicide
• Culture of Life
• Medical ethics, Hippocratic Oath
• Jack Kevorkian, Sue Rodriguez, Edward Brongersma