In that same year voters in Oregon approved of the use of euthanasia on terminally ill patients. Euthanasia, coming from the Greek meaning "a good death", is defined as assisting in the death of a person suffering from an incurable disease. The decision remained tied up in the courts for the following three years when voters again approved of the policy. Later on in 1997 the Supreme Court decided that, under the U.S. Constitution, there was no "right to dieR!.
21;, which managed to slow the spread of such laws (Macionis, 309-91).
The legal status of PAS is constantly evolving. Currently it is illegal in all but one state, Oregon. In the 1997 Supreme Court case it was decided that the U.S. Constitution allows the states to prohibit physician assisted suicide and that it was not a constitutional right. The courts also made the distinction between suicide, involving the direct and intentional taking of one's life, and the decision to refuse treatment, which may indirectly result in death, but not involve the intent to take life. Also in 1997 the U.S. Congress approved a law barring the funding of PAS with federal dollars. It is still being debated whether the law allows the states to permit PAS, and if so under what circumstances. The Oregon law also leaves a lot open for debate, such as issues of protection and abuse concerning the terminally ill. The U.S. Department of Justice has recently announced that it will not enforce the federal laws governing the dispensing of dangerous drugs against Oregon doctors who participate in PAS. Congress is currently considering to override the Justice Department (What is the Current Law Regarding Assisted Suicide? Online).
One of the most vocal supporters of physician assisted suicide would have to be Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He started writing about euthanasia in the early 1980's proposing systems of planned deaths in suicide clinics. His first assisted suicide was performed in 1990 using a "suicide machine" that he built with thirty dollars worth of scrap parts from garage sales and hardware stores.
