Karen Ann Quinlan was admitted into a hospital in a coma and was later declared to be in a vegetative state. After five months her parents requested to have the ventilator removed and to just let her die. When the doctors refused, her parents took the case to court. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that her “right to privacy” gave her parents the right to remove her from the ventilator. On March 31, 1976, Karen died after the doctors turned off the machine.
Cruzan vs. the Director of the Missouri Department of Health.
Nancy Beth Cruzan was involved in a car accident that left her in a vegetative state in 1989. After several weeks, her parents wanted to stop life support and let her pass away. When the doctors would not stop the treatment, her parents decided to take the matter to court. The Court argued that no evidence was available proving Cruzan desired to have the treatment stopped. On June 25, 1990 ruled that the treatment could not be stopped because of a lack of evidence.
Washington vs. Glucksburg, 1997.
In the Washington versus Glucksburg case, Harold Glucksberg sued state of Washington's ban on assisted suicide. Glucksberg argued that the ban violated the 14th amendment, which regards privacy rights. In this case, the Supreme Court of Washington decided the ban did not violate the fourteenth amendment, so the law remained in effect.
Vacco vs. Quill, 1997.
Timothy Quill sued the state of New York's ban on assisted suicide. Quill argued that the ban violated the 14th amendment, which regards privacy rights. The court decided the law was not unconstitutional and the law stood.
Terry Schiavo Case.
Schiavo suffered severe brain damage due to a lack of oxygen from a cardiac arrest. Because of this, she had to be fed through a feeding tube and have constant care. For years, doctors tried different therapies and rehabilitation to try to spark some recovery, but nothing seemed to work. In 1998, Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband, first attempted to have the feeding tube removed, but her parents opposed the idea. The two sides went back and forth for over seven years before a court finally ruled for the feeding tube to be removed on March 18, 2005. Terri passed away thirteen days later.
Oregon Death with Dignity Act.
Oregon was the first state ever in the United States to pass a law permitting a form of euthanasia. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act was passed in 1997 which allows individuals to administer medication from a physician to themselves causing death. These individuals have to meet strict requirements though. First, they have to make two oral requests and one written request, each two weeks apart. Second, the individual must be terminally ill with less than six months to live. Lastly, the individual must be judged mentally competent by two physicians before he can administer the medicine to himself. This law has prevented over fifty people from committing violent suicides and almost two hundred have used it to hasten death. Even though this law has helped many people, there are still some that disagree with it. One of them is Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ashcroft is against euthanasia and the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. He stated in 2001 the Oregon Death with Dignity Act violated the Controlled Substance Act. He threatened that any doctor caught prescribing lethal doses of painkillers would lose his medical license and would have to serve a mandatory twenty year sentence. The state of Oregon sued Ashcroft, saying his command was illegal. In 2006 the Supreme Court ruled the Controlled Substance Act did not ban the use of controlled substances for physician-assisted suicide. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act was upheld.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a pathologist from Michigan, devoted much of his life to a campaign espousing assisted suicide. He believes that patients have a moral right to end their lives when the pain becomes too much. Dr. Kevorkian first came into the picture in 1990 when he assisted in the suicide of Jane Adkins. Ms. Adkins suffered from Alzheimer's disease and her mind was deteriorating quickly. She asked Dr. Kevorkian’s aid in helping her die and got her wish. Dr. Kevorkian uses a device called a Mercitron, which he invented himself a year earlier. The Mercitron is a canister of carbon monoxide hooked with a hose to a face mask worn by the patient. After a few minutes of breathing in the carbon monoxide, the person dies a peaceful and painless death. In 1995, Kevorkian opened a suicide clinic in Michigan, but was soon shut down after the owner of the building and found out what he was doing. Since then, Kevorkian has admitted to participating in over 130 assisted suicides and was finally tried in 1999 for the murder of Thomas Youk. Youk suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive, and usually fatal, neurodegenerative disease. Kevorkian administered a lethal dose of medication upon the request of Youk. He was convicted of second degree murder and spent five years in prison before being released. People's opinions of Kevorkian vary. Many agree with what he is doing and would go to him if that type of assistance were needed, but others strongly disagree and think he is a murderer who should be kept in jail.
States Choose.
High courts let the states decide whether or not to legalize the practice. Only two states have legalized euthanasia: Oregon and Washington. Thirty-seven states have specific laws prohibiting all types of euthanasia and assisted suicides, and seven states prohibit all euthanasia and assisted suicides under common law. The other four states and Washington DC do not have any laws regarding these issues. North Carolina is one of those four. Because North Carolina has no legislation, I have started a petition to encourage legislation to be made concerning this issue. Copy and paste the URL below to go to the petition to sign and show your support.
In countries such as Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Italy, Russia, Spain, and United Kingdom, both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal. In Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg both are legal.
