THE HISTORY OF EUTHANASIA DEBATES IN THE UNITED-STATES AND BRITAIN

Debates about the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide date from ancient Greece and Pome. After the development of ether, phy sicians began advocating the use of anesthetics to relieve the pains o f death. In 1870, Samuel Williams first proposed using anesthetics and morphine to intentionally end a patient's life. Over the next 35 year s, debates about the ethics of euthanasia raged in the United States a nd Britain,culminating in 1906 in an Ohio bill to legalize euthanasia, a bill that was ultimately defeated. The arguments propounded for and against euthanasia in the 19th century are identical to contemporary arguments. Such similarities suggest four conclusions: Public interest in euthanasia 1) is not linked with advances in biomedical technology ; 2) it flourishes in times of economic recession, in which individual ism and social Darwinism are invoked to justify public policy; 3) it a rises when physician authority over medical decision making is challen ged; and 4) it occurs when terminating life-sustaining medical interve ntions become standard medical practice and interest develops in exten ding such practices to include euthanasia.