Euthanasia has been a worldwide controversial debate for many years. Two types of euthanasia may be discussed, active and passive. Active described as "killing" and passive as "allowing to die." An example of active euthanasia would be killing a mentally ill patient that is physically healthy. Passive euthanasia is just the speeding up of an event that is bound to occur naturally. If someone is in a car wreck and cannot breathe on his or her own, when the doctors shut down the machine, it is an example of passive euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is a humane solution as it helps our terminally ill patients move on to a better place. .
Like other civil rights, this controversial issue did not come about suddenly. Throughout history, euthanasia has been accepted in some forms by various groups, or societies (Encarta 1). Aiding others in dying or putting them to death was common in ancient Rome and Greece. If a child was born with major birth defects, it was ethical to put it to death; considering the poor quality of life this child was to live. Also in some societies voluntary euthanasia for the elderly was a custom. "However, as Christianity .
developed and grew powerful in the West, euthanasia became morally and ethically abhorrent and was viewed as a violation of God's gift of life" (Encarta 1). Passive euthanasia is permitted in some branches of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. In many countries there are restrictions on euthanasia, and it has not quite been adopted yet.
The United States and Canada have strict laws regarding active and passive euthanasia. At the request of a patient to end life-sustaining treatment, it is legal for the doctor to do so. Life-sustaining treatment is treatment necessary by a doctor given to a patient that the patient requires to survive. Now that there is advanced technology, legal rights have expanded little by little. On June 26, 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that states may continue to ban the practice of physician assisted suicide (Humphry 295).