Who decides? The connecting thread of euthanasia, eugenics, and doctor-assisted suicide

Throughout recorded history, a series of seemingly unrelated ideas have bee n consistently intertwined: suicide, euthanasia, infanticide, eugenics, gen ocide and, most recently, the practice termed physician-assisted suicide. F rom Plate and Hippocrates to a pair of twentieth-century American physician s named Haiselden and Kevorkian, an examination of history shows these disp arate notions always involve two troublesome questions: Which lives are not worth living? And who will decide? The same examination of history teaches that separating the worthy from the not worthy is a very dangerous proposi tion, especially for those whose lives are deemed marginal.