In 1938 the organization, Euthanasia Society of America, was founded to legalize euthanasia. The organization believed in "the putting to death of the non-volunteers beyond the hope of medical science." (Mercy" Death Law Ready for Albany, p. 2) All though that was their belief they expressed only the idea of voluntary euthanasia. This was because public support for euthanasia was struggling. In 1948 euthanasia was a proposed solution, by the Euthanasia Society of America, for mentally retarded children. Many Americans, in fact, did not accept this proposal and the ESA had to change names to the Society for the Right to Die and change focuses to the pursuit of living wills. This has led to two fairly recent US Supreme Court cases.
In the case of Compassion in Dying v. Washington the Supreme Court found that the 14th amendment of the US constitution guarantees terminally ill competent adults a "liberty interest" in doctor-assisted suicide. This meant that people had the right to choose medically assisted suicide. Also, individuals that were to mentally incompetent to make decisions for themselves were also allowed to have surrogate decision makers aid them in dying. The Quill v. Vacco case then followed this case up one month later. .
Quill v. Vacco was a case in which the court threw out New York's ban on assisted suicide. Three Supreme Court Judges ruled in favor of the right to assisted suicide. This ruling came out of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. The court ruled that both, asking for lethal medication, and asking to be starved to death are rights of individuals, however people still are not in agreement about this topic.
This is a very controversial subject and only one state in the US allows assisted suicide. Oregon enacted the Death With Dignity Act that specifically authorizes physician-assisted suicide. This law was put into effect in 1994 and is the only standing law, in the US, that lets fatally ill people make decisions to pass on before their time.