The issue of euthanasia is pulling on the arms of society in the United States, as the people who are for and those who are against try to answer a series of questions about a persons right to die and society's responsibility in either permitting, assisting, or denying that act. The word "euthanasia" is of Greek origin, and literally is translated to "a good death." According to the American Heritage Dictionary, euthanasia is "the act of killing a person for reasons of mercy" (AHD670). But the issue is more complex than what a dictionary describes it as. There are many more issues at hand that need to be resolved. The only way to do this is to weigh all the legal and ethical issues.
             A number of questions surround the legalities of euthanasia. For example, how do you define a merciful death? If it were legal, how would the deaths occur? Should lethal injections take place at a patient's request? Should criteria be set up as to what cases are legally sanctioned as mercy killings and what types are not? Does not allowing euthanasia violate an individual's constitutional rights? Up to now, us government agencies have not been able to agree on their answers. Records can't indicate whether mercy killing is embraced or not in the U.S. or anywhere in the world, from a legal viewpoint.
             The Netherlands is the only international region today that permits voluntary euthanasia. Suicides there have risen three percent since legalization. Not only have the suicides increased, but also a controversy is brewing regarding whether the mercy killings were actually voluntary. Opponents in the Netherlands are trying to pull back the law, saying that one in five cases of the mercy killings are taking place without the right consent of the patient. A survey released in the Journal of Medical Ethics looked at some of the Netherlands figures in 1995, and found that while there were 3,500 a...