Euthanasia coming from Greek origin means “easy death.” It is “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals …show more content…
Only five out of the fifty states have laws legalizing euthanasia including Oregon, New Mexico, Vermont, Washington, Montana, and soon after 2015, California. (“Death With Dignity”). One out of the other forty-five states which have strict laws concerning the aid of suicide is South Carolina. In South Carolina Code Ann. § 16-3-1090 says that it is a felony to assist another person in committing suicide. (“Code of Laws”). On the other hand, the first state to pass a law for the legalization of euthanasia was Oregon. In 1944, Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act and only three hundred and forty-four terminally ill people have taken advantage of the act (Humphry, Derek, and ERGO). Only about one in every eight hundred deaths that occur in Oregon are because of the Death with Dignity Act (Scherer 9). Every law or rule has to have restrictions or requirements so the law does not become too powerful, and this includes the Death with Dignity …show more content…
Because euthanasia is banned under general homicide laws, they believe that the states should follow those laws because it is indeed considered a felony or manslaughter, both illegal. Others consider that if it were to be legalized it may lead to abuse. Eugenics is the “hereditary improvement of the human race.” Hitler used euthanasia as a justification for killing many jews along with mental and physical handicapped persons in order to improve the human race. The nazi killed “ill or “useless” people” with this justification. Also, those who want to follow the homicide laws, also plead that if physicians were allowed to practice physician assisted suicide, it will violate their Hippocratic oath with says, “To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause death.” Because of this oath, many medical professionals do not support euthanasia, because it puts them “in a precarious ethical, professional, and legal position.” Many physicians also understand that with one of the restrictions being a prognosis of six months, that prognosis precision sometimes fails. They began to fear that if the prognosis are wrong, that people who would have the chance to live longer will be killed thinking they had little time to live (Griswold). In the Netherlands where euthanasia is legalized the patients eligible for mercy killing “now includes depressed people and