History
-The Hippocratic Oath 2.500 b.C
- Physician-assisted suicide legal in Switzerland in 1937
- 1960s advocacy for a right-to-die approach to euthanasia grew
- The Netherlands decriminalized doctor-assisted suicide and loosened some
restrictions in 2002
- in 2002 doctor-assisted suicide was approved in Belgium
- in California 1990 the Supreme Court approved the use of non-active
euthanasia
- In 1994, voters in Oregon approved the Death with Dignity Act, allowing
physicians to assist terminal patients who were not expected to survive more
than 6 months
- in California The US Supreme Court adopted such laws in 1997
- Texas made non-active euthanasia legal in 1999
- in 2008, 57.91 percent of voters in Washington State chose in favor of the
Death with Dignity Act, and the act became law in 2009
Arguments for
Freedom of choice: Advocates argue that the patient should be able to
make their own choice.
Quality of life: Only the patient really knows how they feel, and how the
physical and emotional pain of illness and prolonged death impacts their
quality of life.
Dignity: Every individual should be able to die with dignity.
Witnesses: Many who witness the slow death of others believe that assisted
death should be allowed.
Resources: It makes more sense to channel the resources of highly-skilled
staff, equipment, hospital beds, and medications towards life-saving
treatments for those who wish to live, rather than those who do not.
Humane: It is more humane to allow a person with intractable suffering to
be allowed to choose to end that suffering.
Loved ones: It can help to shorten the grief and suffering of loved ones.
We already do it: If a beloved pet has intractable suffering, it is seen as an
act of kindness to put it to sleep. Why should this kindness be denied to
humans?