There are several forms of euthanasia. First, there is voluntary (or active) euthanasia. This means that a competent person makes a voluntary request, without changing their mind, to be helped to die. A popular example of voluntary euthanasia was the assisted killing of a patient with ALS by Dr. Jack Kevorkian in 1998. Dr. Kevorkian’s patient was terrified of the advan

In the 1970’s, Dr. Kevorkian becomes chief pathologist at Saratoga General Hospital, and quits less than ten years later to move to California. With his life savings, he invests in the making of a movie, which fails miserably. Finally, in the late 1980’s, he starts advertising in Detroit newspapers as a consultant for “death counseling”. It is at this time, he starts doing what he has been in the news so much for, assisting and overseeing suicides. As of 1998, Dr. Jack Kevorkian has assisted in over 100 suicides ( No Author, http://www.pbs.org).

It seems that the more strict and conservative the religion, the less they agree with euthanasia. The points that the major religions agree with is that “life is a gift from God…Only God can start a life, and only God should be allowed to end one”, and that God doesn’t give us a larger load that we can handle. Some of the more strict and rigid religions are the Christian Reformed Church in North America, Islam, and the Roman Catholic Church (No Author, http://www.religioustolerance.org). The more liberal churches and non-religious groups both agree that each person has the right to control their own life, and in certain circumstances, death can give relief of excessive and intolerable pain. Some churches that are more liberal in their beliefs are the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Unitarian Universalist Church, and mainline and Liberal Christian denominations (No Author, http://www.religioustolerance.org).

However, in June of 1997, CNN and USA Today conducted a Gallup poll. According to this poll, in the United States, 57% were in favor of euthanasia, while 35% opposed it (other countries are as follows: Canada: 76% support; Britain: 80% support; Australia: 81% support; and the Netherlands: 92% support). Now if 57% of the Americans polled were in favor of euthanasia, who is controlling the votes in the state legislatures voting on these issues? If the state lawmakers were voting the way their constituents wanted them to vote, this would not even be an issue, since the laws to make euthanasia legal would have already passed. It seems as if there are certain powers that are not interested in seeing euthanasia becoming legal. These entities are the Church and their supporters (No Author, http://www.religioustolerance.org).

There are also the more common diseases, like cancer, that usually do not lessen the person’s ability to continue day-to-day activities, but are no less painful. Most of the time, the person is emotionally destroyed, as well as physically de

Some topics in this essay:
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