EUTHANASIA - HISTORICAL, ETHICAL, AND EMPIRIC PERSPECTIVES

Debates about the ethics of euthanasia date from ancient Greece and Ro me. In 1870, S. D. Williams, a nonphysician, proposed that anesthetics be used to intentionally end the lives of patients. Between 1870 and 1936, a debate about the ethics of euthanasia raged in the United Stat es and Britain. These debates predate and invoke different arguments t han do debates about euthanasia in Germany. Recognizing the increased interest in euthanasia, this article reviews the definitions related t o euthanasia, the historical record of debates concerning euthanasia, the arguments for and against euthanasia, the situation in the Netherl ands, and the empirical data regarding euthanasia in the United States .