History

Timeline of assisted suicide:

  • 5th Century B.C- widespread support for voluntary death due to no defined value of human life, doctors performed abortions and voluntary mercy killings frequently
  • 12th Century- Christian views reinstated people with the notion that human life is a trust from god and that stirred the discussion of euthanasia (violates God's authority over life)
  • 17th Century-American colonies oppose assisted suicide and that self murder is "unnatural"
  • 1828- New York becomes lead state to have a law against assisted suicide or aiding a suicide. This became a trend of other states following the lead of New York
  • 1906- In efforts to legalize euthanasia, a bill was brought to court in Ohio, where it was defeated 79 to 23. This led to a recession of public interest in euthanasia
  • 1930's- public support for assisted suicide increases as great Depression arises, A legalization bill was also defeated in the British House of Lords in 1936
  • 1974- Society for the Right to Die was founded (formerly the Euthanasia Society of America)
  • 1976- Quinlan case= legal landmark, drawing national and international attention to assisted suicide
  • 1977- 8 states have right to die bills (AK,OR,CA,NV,NC,ID,NM,TX)
  • 1997- President Clinton prohibits federal funding for assisted suicide
  • 1997- U.S Supreme Court rules there is "no constitutional right to die" in the Washington v Glucksberg and Vacco v Quill cases.
  • 2001- Netherlands legalizes euthanasia
  • 2005- Terri Schiavo case- National media attention reinstated on assisted suicide
  • 2008- Luxembourg legalizes euthanasia
  • 2013- Vermont becomes fourth state to legalize euthanasia
  • 2014- Belgium legalizes euthanasia
  • 2015- California becomes 5th state to legalize euthanasia
  • 2016- Physician assisted suicide becomes legal in Canada, Colorado also legalizes
  • 2018- Hawaii legalizes assisted suicide

https://euthanasia.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000022

With changing views of assisted suicide over the years with the court cases of wanting to "pull the plug" on certain individuals that were suffering from major extremities of diseases, or injuries, where there is no foreseeable future of living so that led the government in 2006, to decide to leave it up to the states to decide the outcome of future cases. As recent as 2007, multiple people have been trying to devise "suicide machines" to propose an easier, safer, and quicker way of dying. Some, like Doctor Jack Kevorkian who was arrested and put in jail for the idea in 2007.