The Evolution

Before the coming of Christianity, attitudes toward infanticide, active euthanasia, and suicide tended to be tolerant. Although the Hippocratic Oath prohibited doctors from giving a deadly drug to anybody, not even if asked for, or from suggesting such a course of action, few ancient Greek or Roman physicians followed the oath faithfully and instead gave their patients the requested poison.

With the rise of Christian beliefs and its teaching that life is a trust from God, euthanasia was prohibited. It was opposed because it was viewed as inconsistent with the human good and with responsibilities to God. It was condemned because it injures other people and the community of which the individual is a part and the violation of God’s authority over life. This position represented attitudes about suicide that prevailed from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and Reformation.

Many started opposing the church, its authority, and teachings, including euthanasia and suicide.  While it was challenged with regards to ethical matters, there was no real widespread interest in the issue, yet. Moreover, in 1828 the practice was explicitly outlawed in New York, making it the first state to put it in motion.

Despite the persistent opposition, disregarding euthanasia based mostly on religious reasons, Samuel Williams managed to make 1870 the stepping stone year. The use of morphine as an analgesic, a pain-relieving agent advocated the use of these drugs not only as to soften the terminal pain, but intentionally end a life. With the passing of time, the euthanasia debate received serious attention and entered the political forums.

16 November 1915, marks a milestone in the history of euthanasia. After the birth of Anna Bollinger’s child heavily deformed and the prediction of Dr. Haiselden of a short life, it was decided upon the termination of its life. Haiselden was the one to advise so and the family agreed to it, broadly announcing it during a news conference, making it a wide-ranging, global story. Additionally, he managed to accomplish what other defenders of euthanasia before couldn’t and got a fair amount of Americans openly discussing the concept and support from dominant figures. The created publicity, the consequences of WWI, inspired many Americans to speak in favor of letting deformed infants die. This case brought a storm of public controversy, but regardless it was already widely accepted that doctors should decide whether a life was worth living, based on the patient's diagnosis.

With the coming of the Depression and more troubled economic times, Americans stirred up the suicide and controlled dying discussions, crucial years in the history of euthanasia. It was followed by The Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation Society, founded in England. The Voluntary Euthanasia Act makes its way among the government, although never voted on, it demonstrates an emerging interest in legislating it. The foundation of the National Society for the Legalization of Euthanasia followed and it was formed of men who believed so strongly in the right of an incurably diseased individual to have his life terminated, having a large impact on the society’s viewpoint.

With the postponed legalization of euthanasia, groups started petitions to include the same as a part of human rights. The case of Karen Ann Quinlan, patient fallen into an irreversible coma, made headlines, a legal landmark, thanks to her parents, who were allowed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to detach her respirator and end her life. The case drew national and international attention to the end of life issues and furthermore helped the Natural Death Act to come into law. Making California the first state to grant terminally ill patients the right to authorize the withdrawal of medical treatment when death is believed to be inevitable. The same law was put into motion by eight additional states.

Humphry was one of the main figures in the right to die movement, with more and more Americans showing increased public interest in the issue, alongside courts, medical institutions. The Patient Self-Determination Act was also passed the next year, defending patient’s rights and promoting living wills. The devastating defeats, low public votes, are finally overruled due to Luxembourg’s, Washington’s, Montana’s, and many other states which followed the legalization of euthanasia as a result of the same in the Netherlands.

The first minor to be granted euthanasia further strengthens the movement in 2016, with Hawaii having the concept legalized as well, and only increasing the positive attention towards the issue as opposed to the past. Over the course of history, as you can see, the individual’s responsibilities towards the society and God were prioritized over their own, personal choices, but overpowered after having attention arose about the importance of oneself’ decisions and human rights.