Euthanasia or "Physician Assisted-Suicide" is "Suicide accomplished with the aid of another person, especially a physician." (American Heritage Medical Dictionary). The debate of the legalization of Euthanasia hangs heavily on the ethics of the passing of life. America is a country that is known to the rest of the world as a "death defying" culture, so it is not normally perceived that death is a positive event. For the terminally ill is there such a thing as a positive death? The ethical question is in the difference between Passive Euthanasia and Active Euthanasia. Passive Euthanasia (Passive Death) is when inhuman force (such as death by disease or lightning) is the cause of death while Active Euthanasia is when the direct action of another becomes the cause of death (Clayton). To some the line between Passive and Active Euthanasia is not a line of black and white but grayed in many areas due to evidence coming to light on either side of the debate. Consequently, euthanasia should become a law if specific sub laws are put in place to protect the patient and their loved ones. .
On the one hand, to bring the life of another to an end by an injection is to directly kill the other--our action is the physical cause of death. On the other hand, to allow someone to die from a disease we cannot cure (and that we did not cause) is to permit the disease to act as the cause of death (Should Euthanasia). The line has been blurred to gray in many aspects of euthanasia. That is why Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide should be legalized in all states and provinces of the United States of America if criteria and specific sub-laws are put in place to protect the ill and dying patients along with the patient's family and friends.
When is a patient who is near death granted the option for a physician assisted death? Is there a line between the ability to live a good life and living a painful and captive life due to an illness? The inability for us to differentiate between the two troubles many doctors, well known organizations, as well as everyday citizens.
