Within the parameter of my paper I will discuss the history of euthanasia and the legislation that has taken place in the past and more current legislative provisions including the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. There are many different types of euthanasia including active, passive, voluntary and involuntary. I will discuss physician-assisted suicides, which can take and active or passive form. Opponents and their views will be looked at, along with reasoning behind these views. I will focus on court cases of doctor Jack Kevorkian and his reasoning behind euthanasia. I will point out how the state of Oregon supports their doctors in practices of euthanasia while Michigan has created laws specifically to criminalize the performing of euthanasia because of Kevorkian. I will conclude with the legislation in the Netherlands on euthanasia being the first country to legalize it, and look into whether the United States will follow. The reason I chose euthanasia as a topic for this paper is because of the controversy over it. I wanted to learn the viewpoints of the opponents and the supporters to understand more clearly what euthanasia actually meant. Also, with the baby boomer generation entering into senior citizenship, the health care system is going to be extremely burdened over the coming decades, and euthanasia may be an option for those who are terminally ill and willing to take that course. Legislative History Euthanasia is a Greek term referring to allowing a person to die a "good death , whether that meant with dignity, without pain, or with honor. The first modern proposal for euthanasia legislation was made in Ohio in 1906, provided that when an adult of sound mind had been fatally hurt or was terminally ill, his physician would be permitted to ask him in the presence of three witnesses if he wished to die. Then, three other physicians were required to confirm the original prognosis before the individual could be put to death. The bill was defeated 23 to 79. In the 1930's, Great Britain and the United States witnessed a burst of pro-euthanasia activity, including the founding of euthanasia societies. In the United States a bill was introduced in Nebraska in 1937, then in New York in 1939, and again in 1947, all of them were rejected. The next significant effort to pass a euthanasia bill did not take place until 1969 in Britain. This bill provided models for bills introduced in Idaho, Oregon, and Montana between 1969 and 1974. The euthanasia debate was quieted until the 1980's, when the Hemlock society began their national campaign of euthanasia advocacy (Urofsky 84). Derek Humphry, a former journalist, founded the Hemlock society after seeing the pain his wife experienced in her death from cancer (Death 26). On November 24, 1992 the Michigan House of Representatives passed a provisional anti-euthanasia measure that outlawed assisted suicides for two years beginning March 30,1993, while a committee on death and dying provided recommendations for the legislation. The measure was a felony punishable four years in prison and a $2000 fine. Physician involvement in patient suicides remains an offense in most states, though the degree to which prosecutors, juries, and courts will tolerate the practice depends largely on the circumstances of the case (Urofsky 76,77). Euthanasia is emerging as a significant public policy issue at a time when health care policy-making is in turmoil. Most states now recognize that patients have the right to refuse medical treatment, including artificially supplied nutrition and hydration, either themselves if competent, or through the use of advance directives (Urofsky 61,68). The current common law is that a person has the right to bodily self-determination and the doctrine of informed consent. Self-determination means that a person has a right to control what is done with his or her body. In 1997 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a constitutional right to assisted suicide or euthanasia. Since the ruling three more states passed laws specifically criminalizing physician-assisted suicide, joining the 35 states that already have these statutes (Ezekiel 2). Currently, United States criminal law classifies mercy killings as murder (Urofsky 96). Legislation is trying to federally controlled substances that at lethal levels are intended to assist suicides, because of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. Opposition Views The debate on legalizing assisted suicide began intensely in the 1970's. On one side the debate have been patients' rights groups, lobbying for what they call the right to choose to die. The strongest opposition has come from physicians' groups such as the American Medical Association and religious groups that are morally opposed to the practice (Death 26). Opponents maintain that medicine should remain a profession dedicated to healing. Legalizing euthanasia presents problems in legal, moral, ethical, and medical issues. The three major arguments against eu