Suicide and euthanasia, the view that distinction between 'suicide' and 'euthanasia' is logically inconsistent may not be quite incorrect, because in passive euthanasia, wherever it has been accepted as legally permissible, consent of the patient, if he be in a sound mental condition, has been regarded as one of the prerequisites. So, if one could legally commit suicide, he could also give consent for his being allowed to die. But then, the legal and other questions relatable to euthanasia are in many ways different from those raised by suicide. One would, therefore, be right in making a distinction logically and in principle between suicide and euthanasia, though it may be that if suicide is held to be legal, the persons pleading for legal acceptance of passive euthanasia would have a winning point. However, for the present case it is sufficient to say that the justification for allowing persons to commit suicide is not required to be played down or cut down because of any encouragement to persons pleading for legalisation of mercy-killing, P. Rathinam v. Union of India, AIR 1994 SC 1844: (1994) 3 SCC 394.
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