A coup de grâce (; 'blow of mercy') is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of mortally wounded civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent. The meaning has extended to refer to the final event that causes a figurative death.
Methods
Examples of coup de grâce include shooting the heart or head (typically the back of the skull) of a wounded, but still living, person during an execution, and humanely killing in war a suffering, mortally wounded soldier for whom medical aid is not available. In pre-firearms eras the wounded were finished with edged or impact weapons to include cutting throats, blows to the head, and thrusts to the heart. Other examples include the officer leading a firing squad administering a coup de grâce to the condemned with a pistol if the first hail of gunfire fails to kill the prisoner; or a kaishakunin who performs a beheading to quickly end a samurai's agony after seppuku.
Modern law
Today, a coup de grâce for wounded soldiers would be a war crime: the laws of war mandate caring for the wounded and prohibit mercy killing.
See also
Euthanasia
Animal euthanasia
Misericorde
Mozambique Drill
References
External links
Euthanasia
