A Brief History of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Europe and the United States
By Elenor K. Schoen
In Europe
The Netherlands was the first country to introduce the concept of physician-assisted suicide - where a doctor prescribes a lethal overdose of barbiturates to be taken by a patient - almost 20 years ago, finally legalizing it in 2002. This practice paved the way in that country for euthanasia - the direct killing of patients by lethal injection or dosage, with or without their approval, whether because of terminal illness or merely because of "unbearable" or unrelieved suffering.
Some 2,000 Dutch die by euthanasia every year; nine hundred are euthanized without their permission. Belgium followed the Netherlands' lead in 2003. Luxembourg - a country of 480,000 people, 87 percent of whom are Catholic - is the third European country to legalize assisted suicide/euthanasia recently.
In the United States
In the US, the movement began with a failed attempt (54-46%) to pass assisted suicide in Washington State via Initiative 119 in 1991.
A subsequent attempt to pass an assisted suicide initiative in California in 1992 failed. In the late 1990's and early 2000, New York, Florida, Michigan, and Maine also failed to pass legislation legalizing physician-assisted suicide. Oregon citizens did pass an assisted suicide initiative in November 1994 and, after legal challenges, it went into effect in 1997. (Click for details on assisted suicide in Oregon.)
Between 1994 and 2008, 54 attempts to legalize assisted suicide in 21 states failed.
In 2008, Initiative 1000, which supported the idea of a "right" to assisted suicide, was passed by a vote of Washington State citizens (59% to 41%).
Current Events: Status of Assisted Suicide
In May 2009, assisted-suicide bills were still pending in Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania. New Hampshire's bill was retained in committee, for further study and revision, possibly coming up again for a vote in January 2010. Recent legislation in Connecticut, Hawaii, and New Mexico has also failed.
On October 10, 2008, a Montana judge heard a lawsuit brought by a terminally ill Billings man, four Missoula physicians and a nonprofit patients' rights group seeking to legalize doctor-assisted suicide in the state. The lawsuit challenged the state's "right to privacy" provision in its constitution. The state district judge ruled on December 5, 2008 that it did protect a right to assisted suicide under the constitution. Attempts to create legislation mirroring this opinion have not succeeded so far. The appeal in the Montana assisted-suicide ruling is still pending as of May 2009.