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Historical Timeline

History of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

y 5th Century B.C.-1st Century B.C. (Ancient Greece and Rome) y 1st Century A.D. (Late Middle Ages) y y y y y y 1800-1899 1900-1929 1930-1949 1950-1979 1980-1999 2000-present

y 17th-18th Century (American Colonies, Renaissance and Reformation)

DATES 5th Century B.C.-1st Century B.C. Ancient Greeks and Romans Tend to Support Euthanasia

EVENTS "In ancient Greece and Rome, before the coming of Christianity, attitudes toward infanticide, active euthanasia, and suicide had tended to be tolerant. Many ancient Greeks and Romans had no cogently defined belief in the inherent value of individual human life, and pagan physicians likely performed frequent abortions as well as both voluntary and involuntary mercy killings. 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. Throughout classical antiquity, there was widespread support for voluntary death as opposed to prolonged agony, and physicians complied by often giving their patients the poisons they requested."
Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003 Hippocrates, author of the Hippocratic Oath Source: www.howstuffworks.com (accessed May 5, 2009)

"The ancients stressed the voluntary nature of the dying, provided that it was done for the right reasons; for example, to end the suffering of a terminal illness. Indeed, in classical Athens, the city magistrates kept a supply of poison for anyone who wished to die."
Michael Manning, MD Euthanasia and PhysicianAssisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, 1998

1st Century "There was a remarkable continuity in Church medical ethics regarding suicide A.D.-Late and euthanasia between the dawn of Christianity and the late Middle Ages. Middle Ages Medieval references to voluntary death were rare, suggesting that the actual practice of euthanasia had tapered off dramatically since the fall of Rome. Laws During Middle in some parts of Europe dictated that a suicide's corpse be dragged through the Ages streets or nailed to a barrel and left to drift downriver. The medieval ethos was Christians and distinctly uncongenial to any kind of self-murder." A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003 Jews Tend to Ian Dowbiggin, PhD

Oppose Euthanasia

"The ascendancy of Christianity, with its view that human life is a trust from God, reinforced the views of the Hippocratic school [which forbid euthanasia]. By the twelfth through fifteenth centuries, it culminated in the near unanimity of medical opinion in opposing euthanasia."
Michael Manning, MD Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, 1998

"Since ancient times, Jewish and Christian thinkers have opposed suicide as inconsistent with the human good and with responsibilities to God. In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas espoused Catholic teaching about suicide in arguments that would shape Christian thought about suicide for centuries. Aquinas condemned suicide as wrong because it contravenes one's duty to oneself and the natural inclination of self-perpetuation; because it injures other people and the community of which the Saint Thomas Aquinas, Catholic individual is a part; and because it violates God's theologian and philosopher authority over life, which is God's gift. This position Source: www.sciencemusings.com exemplified attitudes about suicide that prevailed (accessed May 5, 2009) from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and Reformation."
New York State Task Force on Life and the Law , 1994 When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context (88KB)

17th Century "For over 700 years, the Anglo American common law tradition has punished or otherwise disapproved of both suicide and assisting suicide... For the most part, Common Law the early American colonies adopted the common law approach. For example, Tradition the legislators of the Providence Plantations, which would later become Rhode Prohibits Island, declared, in 1647, that '[s]elf murder is by all agreed to be the most Suicide and unnatural, and it is by this present Assembly declared, to be that, wherein he that Assisted doth it, kills himself out of a premeditated hatred against his own life or other Suicide in the humor...his goods and chattels are the king's custom.'" American Washington v. Glucksberg (63KB) , 1997 Colonies 17th-18th "No serious discussion of euthanasia was even possible in Christian Europe until Century the eighteenth-century Englightment. Suddenly, writers assaulted the church's authoritative teaching on all matters, including euthanasia and suicide... While Renaissance writers challenged the authority of the church with regard to ethical matters, there and was no real widespread interest in the issues of euthanasia or physician-assisted Reformation suicide during that time." Michael Manning, MD Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, 1998 Writers Challenge Church Opposition to Euthanasia Late 18th "Enlightenment toleration of suicide proved to be temporary. Under the leadership Century of evangelicals...a vigorous religious counterattack gained momentum as the late eighteenth century drew to a close. The various waves of religious revivalism, American starting with the Great Awakening of the mid-1700s, prevented secularists and Evangelical agnostics on either side of the Atlantic Ocean from generating popular support for Christians taking one's life. These events dovetailed with the Second Great Awakening of Reject Suicide intense evangelical fervor in the first years of the nineteenth century and and strengthened the condemnation of suicide and euthanasia that stretched back to Euthanasia the earliest days of colonial America.

The rejection of suicide and euthanasia remained firm, even after many of the new states decriminalized suicide in the wake of the Revolutionary War. The majority of Americans rejected suicide's common-law punishment...but no matter how sympathetic they were toward the suicide's family, most Americans stopped far short of condoning self-murder. As late as the antebellum period there existed in the United States a firm consensus...against suicide and mercy killing."
Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003

1828 First US Statute Outlawing Assisted Suicide Enacted in New York

The earliest American statute explicitly to outlaw assisting suicide is enacted in New York. It is the Act of Dec. 10, 1828, ch. 20, 4, 1828 N. Y. Laws 19.

"Many of the new States and Territories followed New York's example Between 1857 and 1865, a New York commission led by Dudley Field drafted a criminal code that prohibited 'aiding' a suicide and, specifically, 'furnish[ing] another person with any deadly weapon or poisonous drug, knowing that such person intends to use such weapon or drug in taking his own life' By the time the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, it was a crime in most States to assist a suicide The Field Penal Code was adopted in the Dakota Territory in 1877, in New York in 1881, and its language served as a model for several other western States' statutes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries California, for example, codified its assisted suicide prohibition in 1874, using language similar to the Field Code's." Washington v. Glucksberg (63KB) , 1997 1870s "An important milestone in the euthanasia debate was the isolation of morphine in the nineteenth cenutry and its widespread use as an analgesic [a pain-relieving Samuel agent]... When the practice of analgesia had become reasonably well established, Williams Samuel Williams, a nonphysician, began to advocate the use of these drugs not Begins to only to alleviate terminal pain, but to intentionally end a patient's life... During the Publically late 1800s, Williams' euthanasia proposal received serious attention in the Advocate medical journals and at scientific meetings. Still, most physicians held the view Using that pain medication could be administered to alleviate pain, but not to hasten Morphine and death." Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, 1998 Other Drugs Michael Manning, MD for Euthanasia 1885 The Journal of the American Medical Association attacks Samuel Williams' euthanasia proposal as an attempt to make "the physician don the robes of an American executioner." Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD "The History of Euthanasia Debates in the United States and Medical Association Britain," Annals of Internal Medicine, Nov. 15, 1994 Opposes Euthanasia 1905-1906 "By the turn of the century, medical science had made great strides. As physicians who used the modern scientific method and modern principles of Bills to pharmacology consolidated their control over university and medical school Legalize training, the euthanasia debate entered the lay press and political forums. In Euthanasia 1905-1906, a bill to legalize euthanasia was defeated in the Ohio legislature by a Are Defeated vote of 79 to 23. In 1906, a similar initiative that would legalize euthanasia not in Ohio only for terminal adults, but also for 'hideously deformed or idiotic children' was introduced and defeated as well. After 1906, the public interest in euthanasia receded."
Michael Manning, MD Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, 1998

"In the early hours of 12 November 1915, at Chicago's German-American Hospital, Anna Bollinger gave birth to her fourth child, a seven-pound baby Dr. Haiselden boy...the baby was blue and badly deformed. After conferring with the father, the doctor awakened Harry J. Haiselden, the hospital's forty-five-year-old chief of Allows Deformed staff. Haiselden diagnosed a litany of physical defects... He predicted that, without Baby to Die surgery...the child would die shortly... Rather Than Give It

1915

Possibly Lifesaving Surgery

In a decision whose shockwaves would ripple from coast to coast, and mark a milestone in the history of euthanasia in America, Haiselden advised against surgery. The Bollingers tearfully agreed and, on 16 November, Haiselden called a news conference to announce that, rather than operate, he would 'merely stand by passively' and 'let nature complete its bungled job.' The child died on 17 November, amid growing controversy. By declining to operate, Haiselden...almost singlehandedly managed to accomplish what other defenders of euthanasia before him had not. He not only got more Americans than ever before talking about euthanasia, but also won endorsements from numerous prominent figures. The publicity surrounding his professional conduct, briefly eclipsing news from World War I, inspired other Americans to speak out in favor of letting deformed infants die for the good of society... Haiselden demonstrated how support for euthanasia was nurtured by a cultural climate punctuated by science, naturalism, and humanitarian reform."
Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003

1917

The Black Stork Film Causes Controversy over Infant The film was inspired by the sensational case of Dr. Euthanasia Harry Haiselden, a Chicago surgeon who convinced the parents of a newborn with multiple disabilities to let the child die instead of performing surgery that would save its life... Haiselden's activities brought forth a storm of public controversy in which all of the currently popular attitudes toward disability were expressed. Many prominent thinkers, including Clarence Darrow and Helen Keller, argued that physicians had the right and the duty to decide whether a life was worth living. Although it was widely accepted that doctors should make these decisions and act on them in their private practices, it was rare that the subject was argued in public."
National Public Radio "The Black Stork: Movie Ads," www.npr.org (accessed May 8, 2009)

"The Black Stork, a feature film from 1917, dramatically expresses the anxieties people had about medicine and disability during this period: disability was equated with disease, doctors claimed absolute authority...

Advertisement for The Black Stork published in the Chicago Herald Tribune on Apr. 1, 1917 Source: www.npr.org (accessed May 5, 2009)

"The dispute over mercy killing, after subsiding in the 1920s, caught fire again in the 1930s, making these years a pivotal juncture in the history of euthanasia in Public Support America. With the coming of the Depression and more troubled economic times, for Euthanasia Americans began talking again about suicide and controlled dying... Public Increases as opinion polls indicated in 1937 that fully 45 percent of Americans had caught up US Endures with Harry Haiselden's belief that the mercy killing of 'infants born permanently Great deformed or mentally handicapped' was permissible." A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003 Depression Ian Dowbiggin, PhD 1935 The Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation Society (VELS) is founded in England by C. Killick Millard, a retired public health physician. "The History of Euthanasia Debates in the United States and Voluntary Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD Euthanasia Britain," Annals of Internal Medicine, Nov. 15, 1994 Legislation Society Founded 1936 "The euthanasia debate was not limited to this side of the Atlantic. A bill to

1930s

legalize euthanasia was debated in the British House of Lords in 1936, but was Bill to Legalize rejected... The defeat of this bill, along with the outbreak of World War II, the Euthanasia subsequent discovery of the Nazi death camps, and the recognition of the Defeated in complicity of German physicians in the extermination camps quelled but did not British House eliminate discussion of the euthanasia question." Michael Manning, MD Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, 1998 of Lords 1937 Nebraska Senator John Comstock introduces legislation called the Voluntary Euthanasia Act, which calls for the legalization of active euthanasia. It is never Voluntary voted on but demonstrates an emerging interest in legislating euthanasia. "The Moral and Legal Status of Physician-Assisted Death: Quality Of Life Euthanasia Bryan Hilliard, PhD Act Introduced and the Patient-Physician Relationship," Issues in Integrative Studies, 2000 in US Senate 1938 On January 16th, 1938 Charles Francis Potter announces the founding of the National Society for the Legalization of Euthanasia (NSLE), which is soon National renamed the Euthanasia Society of America (ESA). Society for the Legalization of According to TIME magazine, "he and a sizable group of other notable men Euthanasia believe[d] so strongly in the right of an incurably diseased individual to have his life terminated gently that they... organized a National Society for the Legalization Founded of Euthanasia... its trustees included Dr. Clarence Cook Little of the American Society for the Control of Cancer and of the American Birth Control League, and Secretary Leon Fradley Whitney of the American Eugenics Society."
TIME Magazine "Potter and Euthanasia," www.time.com, Jan. 31, 1938

1940s Nazi Use of Involuntary Euthanasia Changes Public Perception of Euthanasia in the US
Urns containing the remains of children euthanised by the Nazis at Spiegelgrund Children's Hospital in Vienna during World War II (The burial took place in Apr. 2002) Source: news.bbc.co.uk (accessed May 5, 2009)

"When the 1940s dawned, many in the euthanasia movement believed it was only a matter of time before euthanasia became legal in the United States... But euthanasia advocates were in for a surprise... World War II broke out, and as Hitler's war machine Marched eastward across Europe...news of Nazi atrocities against mental patients and handicapped children filtered back to America... As word spread in the late 1940s, the euthanasia movement found itself increasingly on the defensive, scrambling to deny that the form of euthanasia it supported was the same as Nazi murder."
Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003

1946

The Committee of 1776 Physicians for Legalizing Voluntary Euthanasia in New York State comes into existence.

"The Moral and Legal Status of Physician-Assisted Death: Quality Of Life Committee of Bryan Hilliard, PhD and the Patient-Physician Relationship," Issues in Integrative Studies, 2000 1776 Physicians for Legalizing Voluntary Euthanasia Founded 1950 The World Medical Association votes to recommend to all national medical associations that euthanasia be condemned "under any circumstances." In the World Medical same year, the American Medical Association issues a statement that the Association majority of doctors do not believe in euthanasia. Condemns Euthanasia; "When an opinion poll in 1950 asked Americans whether they approved of Poll Shows allowing physicians by law to end incurably ill patients' lives by painless means if Declining they and their families requested it, only 36 percent answered 'yes,' Support for

The British and American Euthanasia Societies submit a petition to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to amend the UN Declaration of Human Groups Rights to include "...the right of incurable sufferers to euthanasia or merciful Petition the UN death... Inasmuch as this right is, then, not only consonant with the rights and to Amend the freedoms set forth in the Declaration of Human Rights but essential to their Declaration of realization, we hereby petition the United Nations to proclaim the right of Human Rights incurable sufferers to euthanasia. to Include Euthanasia "Eleanor Roosevelt, the Chairperson of the Commission, did not present the petition to the Commission.
Marjorie Zucker, PhD The Right to Die Debate: A Documentary History, 1999

PhysicianAssisted Suicide 1952

approximately 10 percent less than in the late 1930s."

Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003

1962

Charles Potter dies and theologian Joseph Fletcher assumes Potter's unoffical title as the chief philosopher of the euthanasia movement.

Pauline Taylor Becomes "Fletcher fashions a new rationale for euthanasia based primarily on the notion of President of patient autonomy." the Euthanasia Society of Pauline Taylor becomes president of the Euthanasia Society of America (ESA). America "Taylor...began the ESA's soul-searching process that led to a major shift in the philosophy for the entire American euthanasia movement. She believed the ESA in the past had overemphasized the soundness of an individual's decision to have his or her life ended if terminally ill and in unbearable pain... Taylor concluded that the time was ripe to...begin convincing the public that letting someone die, instead of resorting to extreme measures, was both humane and ethically permissible."
Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003

1965

Donald McKinney becomes president of the Euthanasia Society of America (ESA).

Donald McKinney "Over the next two decades [McKinney] would help to transform the euthanasia Becomes movement by leading a sizeable faction opposed to active euthanasia or President of physician-assisted suicide. In the process he eventually concluded...that there the Euthanasia was a fundamental distinction between passive and active euthanasia." Society of Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003 America 1967 The first living will is written by attorney Luis Kutner and his arguments for it appear in the Indiana Law Journal. First Living Derek Humphry "Chronology of Euthanasia and Right-to-Die Events During the 20th Century and Will Written into the Millenium," www.finalexit.org, Feb. 27, 2005 1968 The Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death publishes its report in the Journal of the American Medical Harvard Association in August 1968. The committee defines "irreversible coma" as a new Medical criterion for death. According to the committee, a new definition of death was School needed because of the great burden that trying to revive irreversibly comatose Committee patients puts on the patients themselves, their families, hospitals and the Defines community. Irreversible Peter Singer Rethinking Life & Death, 1994 Coma as a Criterion for Death 1969 The Hastings Center was founded in 1969 by Daniel Callahan to study ethical problems in medicine and biology and was instrumental in the development of Hastings bioethics as a discipline. The original focus of the center concerned death and Center dying, genetics, reproductive biology and population issues, and behavior control. Daniel Callahan, PhD "The Hastings Center and the Early Years of Bioethics," Kennedy Founded
Institute of Ethics Journal, Mar. 1999

In the early 1970s, the widely accepted authority of the medical profession came under concerted attack in the name of patient autonomy. This challenge has been Idea of embodied in the progressive enumeration of patient rights, especially the right to Patients' refuse medical care, even life-sustaining care. The goals have been to remove Rights Gains physicians from decision making and to let individual patients weigh the benefits Acceptance and burdens of continued life.
Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD "The History of Euthanasia Debates in the United States and Britain," Annals of Internal Medicine, Nov. 15, 1994

1970s

1972

US Senate Holds First National "The SCA hearings, chaired by Senator Frank Church, proved to be a superb Hearings on opportunity for professionals and laypeople to discuss a range of issues relating Euthanasia to aging and terminal illness, including the evolving doctor-patient relationship and the difficulties about defining death itself. Overall, the hearings showed that Americans were becoming increasingly unhappy about 'the brutal irony of medical miracles,' which extended the dying process only to diminish patient dignity and quality of life. Church insisted that the hearings were not about euthanasia, but try as he might, he could not keep the subject from surfacing."
Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003

The US Senate Special Commission on Aging (SCA) holds the first national hearings on death with dignity entitled "Death with Dignity: An Inquiry into Related Public Issues.

1973

The American Hospital Association adopts a "Patient's Bill of Rights" which recognizes the right of patients to refuse treatment.

The Right to Die Debate: A Documentary History, 1999 American Marjorie Zucker, PhD AHA Patients Bill of Rights (32KB) , 1973 Hospital Association (AHA) Adopts Patient's Bill of Rights 1974 "The founding of the Society for the Right to Die [formerly the Euthanasia Society of America] marked a renewed dedication to pursuing the legalization of active Society for the euthanasia, a reenergized campaign to seek euthanasia laws through the political Right to Die process." Founded; First Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003 US Hospice The first American hospice opens in New Haven, Connecticut. Opens Bryan Hilliard, PhD "The Moral and Legal Status of Physician-Assisted Death: Quality Of Life and the Patient-Physician Relationship," Issues in Integrative Studies, 2003

Mar. 31, 1976 21-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan had fallen into an irreversible coma at a party in 1974. After doctors declared that she was in a "persistent vegetative state," her Supreme parents went to court to have her respirator removed. Court Rules in Quinlan Case The New Jersey Supreme Court rules in 1976 that Karen Quinlan can be that Respirator detached from her respirator. Can Be The case becomes a legal landmark, drawing national and international attention Removed from to end-of-life issues. Coma Patient In Re Quinlan (106KB) , 1976 Oct. 1, 1976 California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signs the California Natural Death Act into law and California becomes the first state in the nation to grant terminally ill Nation's First persons the right to authorize withdrawl of life-sustaining medical treatment when Aid in Dying death is believed to be imminent. Statute Signed New York Times "California Grants Terminally Ill Right to Put an End to Treatment," Oct. 2, 1976 into Law in CA 1977 By 1977, eight states -- California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, North Carolina, and Texas -- had signed right-to-die bills into law. Eight States Sue Woodman Last Rights: The Struggle over the Right to Die, 2000 Have Right to Die Bills 1980 The World Federation of right to Die Societies was founded in 1980. Its

membership included dozens of organizations from countries around the world World that were concerned with euthanasia and the the right to die. Federation of World Federation of Right to Die Societies "Ensuring Choices for a Dignified Death, www.woldtd.net Right to Die (accessed May 9, 2009) Societies Derek Humphry forms the Hemlock Society, a Forms; grassroots euthanasia organization, in Los Angeles. Hemlock Society Forms "Humphry ranks as one of the preeminent pioneers of the American euthanasia movement... Hemlock enjoyed a remarkable growth in the 1980s that rivaled anything the other U.S. organizations had achieved... What also distinguished Hemlock from CFD [Concern for Dying] and the SRD [Society for the Right to Die] Hemlock Society logo. Source: was its official support for active euthanasia and www.bookdoctor.com(accessed May 6, 2009) assisted suicide."
Ian Dowbiggin, PhD A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, 2003

May 5, 1980 Pope John Paull II issues the Declaration on Euthanasia, opposing mercy killing but permitting increased use of painkillers and a patient's refusal of extraordinary Pope John means for sustaining life. Paul II Issues Marjorie Zucker, PhD The Right to Die Debate: A Documentary History, 1999 Declaration Opposing Mercy Killing Dec. 1984 The American Medical Association publishes two reports, "Withholding or Withdrawing Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment, and "Withholding or Withdrawing American Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment -- Patients' Preferences." The reports detail the American Medical Association's formal position that with informed consent, a Medical Association physician can withhold or withdraw treatment from a patient who is close to death, Supports and may also discontinue life support of a patient in a permanent coma. Withholding or American Medical Association "Opinion 2.20: Withholding or Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Medical Withdrawing Treatment," www.ama-assn.org, (accessed May 12, 2009) LifeProlonging Medical Treatment in Certain Circumstances 1987 The California State Bar Conference passes Resolution #3-4-87 to become the first public body to approve of physician aid in dying. "Chronology of Euthanasia and Right-to-Die Events During the 20th Century California Derek Humphry and into the Millenium," www.finalexit.org, Feb. 27, 2005 State Bar Becomes First Public Body to Support Physician Aid in Dying 1988 The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations passes a national resolution titled "The Right to Die With Dignity." The resolution favors aid in dying Unitarian for the terminally ill, thus the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Universalist becoms the first religious body to affirm a right to die. Association Derek Humphry "Chronology of Euthanasia and Right-to-Die Events During the 20th Century and into the Millenium," www.finalexit.org, Feb. 27, 2005 Passes Resolution in "The Right to Die With Dignity" (45 KB) , 1988 Support of Aid in Dying Jan. 8, 1988 The Journal of the American Medical Association publishes an anonymous article entitled "It's Over Debbie." The article describes how a gynecology resident in a

By the early 1990s, the growing interest in the right-to-die movement became apparent in public opinion surveys. These showed that more than half of the Public Opinion American public was now in favor of physician-assisted death and membership of Surveys Show the Hemlock Society rose dramatically to reach 50,000... With increased public More Than interest, the stage was set for an explosive swell of activity: in the courts, in Half of professional medical journals and institutions, and, most significantly, in the Americans homes of the American people. Sue Woodman Last Rights: The Struggle over the Right to Die, 2000 Support PhysicianAssisted Death June 4, 1990 Jack Kevorkian, MD, assists Janet Adkins, a Hemlock Society member, in committing Jack suicide in Michigan. Adkins' death is the first Kevorkian of many suicides in which Dr. Kevorkian Participates in assists. Wesley Smith, JD The Slippery Slope From His First Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder, 1997 Assisted Suicide

Journal of the American Medical Association Publishes Article By Hospital Worker Who Euthanized a Patient 1990s

large private hosptial had injected a patient suffering from painful ovarian cancer with an overdose of morphine. The article stirs controversy and debate, and many condemn the resident for what he had done.
Jonathan Moreno, PhD Arguing Euthanasia: The Controversy Over Mercy Killing, Assisted Suicide, and the "Right to Die," 1995

Dr. Jack Kevorkian pictured on the May 31, 1993 cover of Time magazine Source: www.time.com (accessed May 5, 2009)

June 25, 1990 Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health comes before the United States Supreme Court. The case receives national attention, as it is the first rightSupreme to-die case that the court has agreed to hear. In 1983, a car acccident had left Court Rules in Nancy Cruzan permanently unconscious (by most accounts). Her parents Cruzan Case requested to withdraw her feeding tube, but the Missouri Supreme Court refused. that a Person The United States Supreme Court ruled that a competent person has a Has the Right constitutionally protected right to refuse any medical treatment, but upholds to Refuse Life Missouri's right to insist on clear and convincing evidence as to the wishes of Saving patients who do not have decision-making capacity. In light of the ruling, the Medical Cruzans' lawyer goes back to court with new evidence as to Nancy's prior wishes, Service and Nancy's feeding tube is removed. She dies on December 26th, 1990.
Wesley Smith, JD The Slippery Slope From Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder, 1997

Nov. 5, 1990 Congress passes the Patient Self-Determination Act, requiring hospitals that receive federal funds to tell patients that they have a right to demand or refuse US Congress treatment. It takes effect the next year. Passes Patient Patient Self Determination Act (10.5 KB) , Nov. 5, 1990 SelfDetermination Act 1991 Choice in Dying is formed by the merger of two aid in dying organizations,

Concern for Dying and Society for the Right to Die. The new organization Choice in becomes known for defending patients' rights and promoting living wills, and Dying Formed grows in five years to 150,000 members.
Derek Humphry "Chronology of Euthanasia and Right-to-Die Events During the 20th Century and into the Millenium," www.finalexit.org, Feb. 27, 2005

Nov. 1991

Washington State introduces ballot Initiative 119 to legalize "physician-aid-indying." The initiative is defeated.

Washington John Dombrink, PhD and Daniel Hillyard, PhD Dying Right: The Death with Dignity Voters Defeat Movement, 2001 Physician-Aidin-Dying Initiative Nov. 3, 1992 California voters defeat Proposition 161, the California Death with Dignity Act, which would have allowed physicians to hasten death by actively administering or California prescribing medications for self administration by suffering, terminally ill patients. Death with The vote is 54-46 percent. Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Dignity Act Is Wesley J. Smith, JD Murder, 1990 Defeated Apr. 1993 Compassion in Dying is founded in Washington state to counsel the terminally ill and provide information about how to die without suffering and 'with personal Compassion in assistance, if necessary, to intentionally hasten death.' The group sponsors suits Dying Formed challenging state laws against assisted suicide.
Compassion & Choices 2009) "Aid-In-Dying Timeline," www.compassionandchoices.org (accessed May 12,

May 1994

The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law publishes When Death Is Sought, a report that argues against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.

New York Task New York State Task Force on Life and the Law , May 1994 When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context (88KB) Force Publishes Report Against PhysicianAssisted Suicide Nov. 1994 The Oregon Death With Dignity Act is passed, becoming the first law in American history permitting physician-assisted suicide. Oregon Death Oregon Death With Dignity Act (79.4KB) , 1994 With Dignity Act Passed Apr. 30, 1997 President Clinton signs the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997, which prohibits the use of federal funds to cause a patient's death. President Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997 (35.1KB) , 1997 Clinton Prohibits Using Federal Funds for Assisted Suicide June 26, 1997 The Supreme Court rules in Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill that there is not a constitutional right to die. US Supreme Washington v. Glucksberg (63KB) and Vacco v. Quill (36KB) , 1997 Court Rules There Is No Right to Die Nov. 1997 Oregonians vote 60 to 40 percent in favor of keeping the Death With Dignity Act.
Oregon Department of Human Services "Death With Dignity Act History," www.oregon.gov, Mar. 2006

Oregon Voters Keep Death With Dignity Act

Nov. 1998 Jack Kevorkian Assists a Suicide on National Television Nov. 1998 Michigan Defeats PhysicianAssisted Suicide Proposal 1999

Jack Kevorkian, MD, is a guest on 60 Minutes, during which he shows a videotape of him administering a lethal injection to Thomas Youk, a man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.
People v. Kevorkian (148KB) , 2001

Michigan introduces Proposal B to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The proposal fails by a vote of 29% to 71%.
John Dombrink, PhD Movement, 2001 and Daniel Hillyard, PhD Dying Right: The Death with Dignity

A Michigan court convicts Jack Kevorkian, MD, for the murder of Thomas Youk and sentences him to 10-25 years in prison.

Jack People v. Kevorkian (148KB) , 2001 Kevorkian Convicted of Murder 2000 Maine introduces a ballot initiative, the Maine Death with Dignity Act, that reads "Should a terminally ill adult, who is of sound mind, be allowed to ask for and Maine Death receive a doctor's help to die?" The initiative is defeated by a margin of 51% to with Dignity 49%. John Dombrink, PhD and Daniel Hillyard, PhD Dying Right: The Death with Dignity Act Is Movement, 2001 Defeated 2001 The Netherlands officially legalizes euthanasia.
International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide "Frequently Asked Questions,"

Netherlands www.internationaltaskforce.org, 2006 Legalizes Euthanasia 2003 US Attorney-General John Ashcroft asks the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the finding of a lower court judge that the Oregon Death With Dignity Act Attorneyof 1994 does not contravene federal powers. Derek Humphry "Chronology of Euthanasia and Right-to-Die Events During the 20th Century and General into the Millenium," www.finalexit.org, Feb. 27, 2005 Aschroft Challenges the Oregon Death with Dignity Act 2005 The Terri Schiavo case garners national media attention. Terri Terri Schiavo Schiavo had been brain damaged Has Her since 1990 when, aged 26, her Feeding Tube heart stopped beating temporarily Removed after and oxygen was cut off to her brain. Long Court In 1998, her husband Michael Battle Schiavo filed a petition to have her feeding tube removed. Seven years of legal battles ensued between Michael Schiavo and Terri's parents, the Schindlers. After a Florida Circuit Judge ruled that Terri Protest against the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding Schiavo's feeding tube be removed tube outside the US courthouse featured on the Mar. and the Florida Supreme Court 22, 2005 front cover of the Tampa Tribune Source: www.tbihome.org (accessed May 6, 2009) overturned "Terri's Law," a law

intended to reinsert the feeding tube, the United States Supreme Court refuses for the sixth time to intervene in the case. Terri Schiavo dies on Mar. 31, 2005, 13 days after her feeding tube is removed.
BBC "Timeline: Terri Schiavo Case," Mar. 31, 2005

Jan. 17, 2006 The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion in Gonzales v. Oregon, holds that the Controlled Substances Act does not authorize the Attorney General to ban the US use of controlled substances for physician-assisted suicide. Oregon's Death With Dignity Law is upheld. Gonzales v. Oregon (406KB) , Jan. 17, 2006 Supreme Court Upholds Oregon's Death With Dignity Act in Gonzales v. Oregon June 1, 2007 Jack Kevorkian, MD, the pathologist sentenced on Apr. 13, 1999 to 10-25 years in prison for his role in the euthanasia of Thomas Youk is paroled after serving 8 Jack years. "Kevorkian Is Released from Prison," June 1, 2007 Kevorkian New York Times Released on Parole Feb. 19, 2008 The Luxembourg parliament adopts a law legalizing physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. , "Luxembourg Parliament Adopts Euthanasia Law," www.reuters.com, Feb. 20, 2008 Luxembourg Reuters Legalizes PhysicanAssisted Suicide and Euthanasia Nov. 4, 2008 Washington voters approve the Washington Death with Dignity Act (Initiative 1000) making Washington the second US state to legalize physician-assisted Washington suicide. Death with Washington Death with Dignity Act (952KB) , Nov. 4, 2008 Dignity Act Is Passed Dec. 5, 2008 Montana district judge Dorothy McCarter rules in the case of Baxter v. State of Montana that Montana residents have the legal right to physician assisted State of suicide, thus making it the third US state to legalize physican aid in dying. Baxter v. State of Montana (1.5MB) , Dec. 5, 2008 Montana Legalizes PhysicianAssisted Suicide Dec. 31, 2009 The Montana Supreme Court affirmed 4-3 in the case of Baxter v. State of Montana that physician-assisted suicide is not "against public policy" in Montana. State of The Court further ruled that state law protects doctors in Montana from Montana prosecution for helping terminally ill patients die. The court declined to rule on the Affirms larger question of whether physician-assisted suicide is a right guaranteed under Physician- Montana's Constitution. Opinion/Order of the Montana Supreme Court on Baxter v. State of Montana (357KB) , Dec. 31, 2009 Assisted Suicide Not Against Public Policy