Article    Table of Contents                    Full Text of this article Free    Figures/Tables List  Services    Send comment/rapid response letter    Notify a friend about this article    Alert me when this article is cited    Add to Personal Archive    Download to Citation Manager    ACP Search                            Get Permissions  Google Scholar    Search for Related Content  PubMed Articles in PubMed by Author:    Emanuel, E. J.    Related Articles in PubMed    PubMed Citation    PubMed

HISTORY OF MEDICINE

The History of Euthanasia Debates in the United States and Britain

Ezekiel J. Emanuel

15 November 1994 | Volume 121 Issue 10 | Pages 793-802

Debates about the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide date from ancient Greece and Rome. After the development of ether, physicians began advocating the use of anesthetics to relieve the pains of death. In 1870, Samuel Williams first proposed using anesthetics and morphine to intentionally end a patient's life. Over the next 35 years, debates about the ethics of euthanasia raged in the United States and 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 individualism and social Darwinism are invoked to justify public policy; 3) it arises when physician authority over medical decision making is challenged; and 4) it occurs when terminating life-sustaining medical interventions become standard medical practice and interest develops in extending such practices to include euthanasia.

Author and Article Information

From Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
Requests for Reprints: Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, MA 02115.
Acknowledgments: The author thanks Drs. Linda Emanuel, Lee Goldman, Robert Mayer, Jane Weeks, and David Weinberg for their continuing support and critical comments on the manuscript; Professors Barbara Rosenkrantz, Allan Brandt, and Jeffrey Williamson for their helpful discussions on the medical and economic history of the time; Ms. Ruth Bartels of the State Historical Society of Iowa and Ms. Linda Robertson of the Iowa State Legislature Law Library for their efforts to locate information on Dr. Ross Gregory and whether he submitted an euthanasia bill in Iowa; and Ms. Elizabeth Daniels for her review of the manuscript and her heroic efforts to track down pictures and old articles in magazines and newspapers.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Stolberg Active Euthanasia in Pre-Modern Society, 1500 1800: Learned Debates and Popular Practices Soc Hist Med, August 1, 2007; 20(2): 205 - 221. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. A Hurst and A. Mauron The ethics of palliative care and euthanasia: exploring common values Palliative Medicine, March 1, 2006; 20(2): 107 - 112. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. A Hurst and A. Mauron Assisted suicide and euthanasia in Switzerland: allowing a role for non-physicians BMJ, February 1, 2003; 326(7383): 271 - 273. [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. B. Bascom and S. W. Tolle Responding to Requests for Physician-Assisted Suicide: "These Are Uncharted Waters for Both of Us. . . ." JAMA, July 3, 2002; 288(1): 91 - 98. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Chao, N. Chan, and W. Chan Euthanasia revisited Fam. Pract., April 1, 2002; 19(2): 128 - 134. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. J. Emanuel Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Review of the Empirical Data From the United States Arch Intern Med, January 28, 2002; 162(2): 142 - 152. [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. J. Kohlwes, T. D. Koepsell, L. A. Rhodes, and R. A. Pearlman Physicians' Responses to Patients' Requests for Physician-Assisted Suicide Arch Intern Med, March 12, 2001; 161(5): 657 - 663. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. F. Brehany Hospice and a principled response to assisted suicide American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, July 1, 1997; 14(4): 178 - 184. [PDF]

				M. A. Lee, H. D. Nelson, V. P. Tilden, L. Ganzini, T. A. Schmidt, and S. W. Tolle Legalizing Assisted Suicide -- Views of Physicians in Oregon N. Engl. J. Med., February 1, 1996; 334(5): 310 - 315. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]