By Low Ching Ling

YOU'RE dying and you've signed a document to tell your doctor not to do anything to prolong your life.

That's euthanasia, someone points out.

Wrong.

It's called a 'living will', or an Advance Medical Directive (AMD). Confused? You're not alone.

Contrary to popular belief, euthanasia and living wills are not one and the same. Throw in assisted suicide and the confusion deepens.

That was the point raised by Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan and MPs Ellen Lee and Halimah Yacob in Parliament on Monday. Mr Khaw said: 'Many confuse euthanasia with assisted suicide and with AMD... The three are very different.'

Going by a random poll of 50 people by The New Paper, he's spot on.

An overwhelming 36 people said they did not know the difference between the three processes.

Executive Priscilla Soh, 24, said: 'I have no idea. They all sound like the same thing to me.'

While the end (death) is the same for all three, the means (who pulls the plug) are very different.

But 14 people we asked said they knew the difference.

Really? We probed further and found that most of them were just as clueless.

When we asked them to explain what euthanasia, assisted suicide and AMD meant, only two did so correctly.

Seven gave partially correct answers, while the rest got it all wrong.

Undergraduate Andrew Goh, 23, could explain euthanasia and AMD but was not sure what assisted suicide was.

'Is it the same as euthanasia?' he asked.

Wrong.

Investment executive Serena Cho, 34, tried explaining why people are ignorant about the differences.

'I don't think (the differences are) well-known because death is a topic seldom broached openly in our society,' she said.

Mr Khaw said the same thing in Parliament.

An Asian thing

Madam Halimah told The New Paper: 'It's an Asian thing. People just don't like to talk about death before their time is up. There's also the issue of filial piety, which is very important in Asian society.'

But the issue of euthanasia and living wills have been hotly debated in the media in recent weeks. So why is there still such confusion?

Therein lies the irony.

Madam Halimah pointed out: 'It's good there is a lot of discussion about AMDs. But in talking about AMDs, people started associating it with euthanasia and assisted suicide, and it turned into a very emotional issue.'

While the Government is promoting AMDs, it has never proposed legalising euthanasia. Indeed, AMD is completely different from euthanasia.

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