Euthanasia Essay, Research Paper

History of Euthanasia in America

1973- The American Medical Association issues the Patient Bill of Rights. The

groundbreaking document allows patients to refuse medical treatment.

1976- The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan, who

has been in a tranquilizer-and-alcohol-induced coma for a year, can remove her

respirator. She dies nine years later.

1979- Jo Roman, a New York artist dying of cancer, makes a videotape, telling her

friends and family she intends to end her life. She later commits suicide with an overdose

of sleeping pills.

1985- Betty Rollin publishes “Last Wish,” the story of her mother’s battle with ovarian

cancer. The book reveals that Ida Rollin killed herself with a sedative overdose.

1990- Dr. Jack Kevorkian performs his first assisted suicide, using a homemade machine,

to end the life of Alzheimer’s patient Janet Adkins. Meanwhile, after protracted legal

wrangling, the parents of Nancy Cruzan, who has been in a coma for seven years, are

allowed to remove her feeding tube. Friends and co-workers testify in court that she

would not have wanted to live.

1991- Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphry first publishes “Final Exit.” The

controversial suicide “how-to” book later becomes a national best seller.

1994- Voters in Oregon pass a referendum making it the only state in the country that

allows doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs for terminally ill patients. The hotly

contested law was not put into effect until last year.

1995- George Delury publishes “But What If She Wants to Die?” a diary chronicling his

wife’s long battle with multiple sclerosis. The book describes the couple’s agonizing

decision to end her life with a drug overdose. Delury served four months in prison for

attempted manslaughter for his role in her death.

1997- In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court rules that the Constitution does not

guarantee the right to commit suicide with the help of a physician. The decision upholds

laws in New York and Washington state making it illegal for doctors to give lethal drugs

to dying patients.

1998- In November, Michigan voters defeat a measure that would have made

physician-assisted suicide legal.

Michigan Poll On Dr. Kevorkian and Euthanasia22

1. After watching that segment which showed Jack Kevorkian administering a lethal

injection of drugs, do you think it was appropriate or not appropriate for “60 Minutes” to

show that scene on television?

56%Appropriate

35% Not appropriate

10% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

2. Did the experience of watching Dr. Jack Kevorkian cause a man’s death influence your

opinion about assisted suicide, or would you say that your opinion about assisted suicide

was not influenced at all by the “60 Minutes” program?

11%Influenced opinion about assisted suicide

84%DID NOT influence opinion about assisted suicide

5%Undecided/Don’t know

3. Did the experience of watching tonight’s “60 minute” segment on Jack Kevorkian

influence you to be more supportive of assisted suicide or more opposed to assisted

suicide?

6%Much more supportive of assisted suicide

31%Somewhat more supportive of assisted suicide

13%Somewhat more opposed to assisted suicide

38%Much more opposed to assisted suicide

12%Undecided/Don’t know

4. Generally speaking, do you favor or oppose laws that would allow physician assisted

suicide for terminally ill people who are in a sound state of mind?

31%Strongly favor

14%Somewhat favor

10%Somewhat oppose

40%Strongly oppose

5%Undecided/Don’t know

5. Dr. Kevorkian has invited law enforcement authorities to arrest him and charge him

with a crime for his actions in the death shown on television. What do you think? Should

Dr. Jack Kevorkian be arrested and charged with a crime for his actions, or do you think

authorities should do nothing?

50%Kevorkian should be arrested and charged

34%Authorities should do nothing

16%Undecided/Don’t know

6. If Dr. Kevorkian is arrested for his involvement in the death of the man shown on “60

Minutes,” for what crime do you think he should be charged–violating Michigan’s new

law banning assisted suicide, for committing a more serious crime, such as murder, or for

committing a different crime?

30%Violating law banning assisted suicide

45%More serious crime – such as murder

16%Something else

9%Undecided/Don’t know

7. If he was charged with violating Michigan’s new law banning physician assisted

suicide instead of murder, based on what you saw on television tonight, would you find

Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty or not guilty of that crime?

62%Guilty of assisting a suicide

26%Not guilty of assisting a suicide

12%Undecided/Don’t know

8. Dr. Jack Kevorkian has publicly stated that he is trying to force the issue of assisted

suicide and euthanasia by his actions, and, if necessary, he will starve himself in prison to

become a martyr for his beliefs. Do you believe that Dr. Kevorkian is doing what must be

done for the cause of assisted suicide, do you think he has gone too far and is hurting his

cause, or, do you think he should do even more to force changes in assisted suicide laws?

28%Doing what must be done

55%Has gone too far and is hurting his cause

8%Should do even more to force changes

9%Undecided/Don’t know

9. In the recent November 3rd election, did you vote YES in favor of Proposal B, the

assisted suicide proposal, did you vote NO to oppose it, did you vote in the election but

skip that proposal, or were you unable to vote at all on November 3rd?

24%Yes

56%No

5%Did not vote on that proposal

11%Did not vote in the election

2%Can’t remember

2%Refused

Works Cited

1. Dority, Barbara. “The Ultimate Civil Liberty”. Humanist. July/August 1997. p. 17.

2. Emanuel, Ezekiel. “Who’s Right to Die?”. Atlantic Monthly. March 1997. p. 75.

3. Henry, Sarah. “The Battle over Assisted Suicide: A Time to Die”. California Lawyer.

January 1996. p. 1.

4. Ubell, Earl. “Should Death Be a Patient’s Choice?”. Parade. February 9, 1992. p. 25.

5. Birenbaum, Arnold. “The Right to Die in America”. USA Today. January 1992 p. 28.

6. Hallock, Steve. “Physician-Assisted Suicide:”Slippery Slope” or Civil Right?”

Humanist. July/August. 1996. p. 9.

7. Worshop, Richard L. “Assisted Suicide”. Congressional Quarterly Researcher.

February 21, 1992. p. 153.

8. Martinez, Elizabeth. “Going Gentle into That Good Night: Is a Rightful Death a

Feminist Ideal?” Ms. July/August. 1993. p. 67.

9. Dority, Barbara. p. 18.

10. Weinstein, Henry. “Assisted Deaths Ruled Legal: 9th Circuit Lifts Ban on Doctor-

Aided Suicide”. Los Angeles Times. March 7, 1996. p. A1.

11. Hallock, Steve. p. 12-13.

12. Hallock, Steve. p. 13.

13. Beck, Joan. “Backing Away from a Very Slippery Slope”. Chicago Tribune. June 30,

1997. p. A1.

14. Johnson, Tim. “Legal Eythanasia Unsettles Colombia”. Miami Herald. June 30, 1997.

p. 7A

15. Maier, Thomas. “Death By Choice”. Newsday. November 6, 1997. p. A5.

16. Emanuel, Ezekiel. p. 73.

17. Worsnop, Richard L. p. 59.

18. Worsnop, Richard L. p. 59.

19. Bai, Matt. “Death Wish”. Newsweek. December 7, 1998. p. 31.

20. Bai, Matt. p. 33.

21. Frehm, Ron. Newsweek. December 7, 1998. p. 32-33.

22. Detroit Free Press poll of 300 Michigan residents conducted November 22, 1998 by

Epic/MRA, of Lansing.

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