I am not sure what kind of equipmment is keeping this woman alive. The word “respirator” was used; usually this means a machine which does all of one’s breathing; and usually a person is sedated into a coma to tolerate the pain and discomfort. I’ve visited a friend who was on one; he was similarly sedated into unconsciousness; it was a temporary therapy after a serious emergency operation, and he survived and 20 years later is alive relatively healthy.
My understanding of “assisted suicide” is being given something that causes death such as any kind of pharmaceutical drug or other poison, or removing food and water. Of course some people are also bedridden and cannot take care of themselves at all, and if left unattended, would die.
But the realm of machinery that keeps people alive such as ventilators or respirators or other machines that take over bodily functions like heart or lungs - to turn these off, if the patient has previously requested, or is brought to consciousness and then requests them to be turned off, is not suicide. I do not know the details in this case.
I had an old friend who was diagnosed a few years ago with a very fast growing, inoperable and incurable lung cancer. He was in his mid-50s. He was put on a ventilator, and sedated heavily. His family arrived, and was told that there was not a tiny possibility of treatment or cure, and that death was inevitable, as the cancer had spread throughout both lungs and other parts of his body. They brought him to consciousness, told him the situation, and asked if he wanted to be kept alive on the ventilator or have it turned off.
He chose to have it turned off, and neither he, his family, or I consider it suicide. He left this world with prayer and in the company of his family and a couple of close friends.
I agree. Your friend died naturally.
[If all the woman wants is to turn off the breather, she is not committing suicide, she is living free of assistance for a few moments, and then dying naturally of her illness. I think people who want to die naturally are ok. But if you need to ask someone to give you a lethal injection or a pill or otherwise cause you to die, you are asking too much of them. They become your killer and it’s wrong to ask that of them. And it’s wrong to play God and do it to yourself. But if it’s time to “let go and let God”, ok.]