TIME
March 2 2009
A BRIEF HISTORY OF
Assisted Suicide
By Kate Pickert Tuesday, Mar. 03, 2009
Mention the term "euthanasia," and the first thing most people think
of is the epic assisted suicide battle of the 1990s starring Jack
"Doctor Death" Kevorkian. But the issue of whether human beings ‘ and
more pointedly, doctors ‘ have the right to help others die has been
in the public discourse since before the birth of Christ. The
Hippocratic Oath, which scholars estimate was written in the fourth
century B.C., includes the unambiguous statement: I will not give a
lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a
plan. (The oath, which most modern doctors do not take, also includes
a promise not to perform abortions.) (See the Top 10 Medical
Breakthroughs of 2008)
The centuries-old debate over a person’s right to die, usually in
cases of painful terminal illness, is currently grabbing headlines
with the arrest of four members of a group called the Final Exit
Network. Authorities say the four helped an Atlanta man commit suicide
last June, which, if proven, would be a violation of Georgia state
law.
The idea that it should be illegal to help someone commit suicide is
most often ascribed to the Biblical Commandment: Thou Shalt Not
Kill. Despite this, several Judeo-Christian societies have condoned
assisted suicide in recent years. Australia legalized it in 1995, only
to rescind the law two years later. The Netherlands and Switzerland
have decriminalized the practice, paving the way for a British man
named Craig Ewert to travel to Zurich in December 2008 intent on
taking his life. Ewert’s journey and death were broadcast on British
television. Although British law makes it illegal to help someone
commit suicide, authorities have opted not to prosecute Ewert’s wife
and others who have helped loved ones travel abroad for the express
purpose of committing suicide.
In the case of Final Exit, according to authorities ‘ and an
undercover agent who infiltrated the group ‘ the four arrestees
instructed a 58-year-old man how to kill himself using a plastic hood
filled with helium. The defendants face at least up to five years in
prison if convicted. It appears the man who died was not terminally
ill; according to the Associated Press, his doctor told authorities
that although he suffered from cancer that left his face disfigured,
he was cancer-free at the time of his suicide.
The lack of imminent death fueled much of the debate in the 2005 case
of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman in a vegetative state whose feeding
tube was removed ‘ causing eventual death ‘ after a protracted legal
and political battle. Schiavo’s husband Michael said Terri would not
have wanted to be kept alive, while her parents had argued her mental
capacity could have improved with therapy. Acorss the Atlantic, Eluana
Englaro, an Italian woman in a similar non-responsive state, died in
February 2009 under circumstances that mirrored the Schiavo
case. While "right-to-die" cases are different than "assisted suicide"
cases ‘ right-to-die usually refers to the removal of feeding tubes or
ventilators keeping unconscious or vegetative patients alive, as
opposed to people actively deciding to end their lives ‘ the Schiavo
case and others preceding it have fueled the debate over whether
humans should have a right to control when they die.
After ruling in 1997 that Americans do not have a Constitutional right
to doctor-assisted suicide, the U.S. Supreme Court said in 2006 that
such cases should be up to the states. Oregon has had a "Death With
Dignity" law on the books since 1997 that allows terminally ill
patients to commit suicide with lethal doses of prescribed
medication. In 2007, some 46 people committed suicide in Oregon under
the law. Last November Washington voters passed a similar provision
that allows patients with six or fewer months to live to
self-administer lethal doses of medication. Washington’s former
governor, Parkinson’s sufferer Booth Gardner, stumped for the law,
while opponents included Martin Sheen, who starred in television
commercials urging voters to shoot down the initiative.
Kevorkian, who devised a "suicide machine" to administer lethal doses
of medication, spent seven years in prison for his efforts, emerging
in 2007 at the age of 79. He claimed to have helped some 130 people
commit suicide, but was locked up over one particular case of a
52-year-old man with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou
Gehrig’s disease) who Kevorkian helped commit suicide. Kevorkian
videotaped the death and allowed it to be broadcast on 60 Minutes in a
brazen violation of Michigan law.
The Final Exit arrestees appear, like Kevorkian, to be prepared and
planning for a fight. The group has a web site explaining its cause
and its leader Jerry Dincin has told TIME he considers Final Exit
members "angels of mercy."
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