Over the past few years in medical professions, much controversy has been brought up over euthanasia. Euthanasia is a form of mercy killing that incorporates the ending of a person's life to relieve them from physical suffering or incurable diseases. It takes deliberate steps into causing death, and one may perceive it as a positive or negative ordeal(Microsoft Bookshelf). To the supporters of euthanasia, it is a pure way of relieving suffering with the supported belief that extending life of pain and torture will affect not only the patient, but the family members of those patients as well. To those who oppose, euthanasia can seem like an attack on the given individual right for the freedom of life. Their conviction is supported by the idea that mercy killing is in itself a form of assisted suicide and can be seen as a double iniquity.
             So the real question is, is euthanasia merciful or merciless? It is illegal in most parts of the United States and those who attempt to commit euthanasia can face the death penalty. However, in one part of the United States, Oregon, physician-assisted suicide is legal. "The Supreme Court ruled in two 1997 cases, Vacco v. Quill and Washington v. Glucksburg, that assisted suicide is not a constitutionally protected right, and that decisions about whether to allow the practice should be left to the states"(Euthanasia).
             In the beginning in 1905, Ohio tried to pass a bill to allow the rights of assisted suicide, but was soon enough condemned and the bill fell apart(Euthanasia). However, this was not the end to this long held debate. As time went by, the advocates of euthanasia grew to such an innumerable amount that it became the controversial topic in the medical world. Many people began to be involved in numerous movements to legalize euthanasia, by attempting to pass bills and laws such as the Pain Relief Promotion Act(Euthanasia).
             This law provided protection for the doctors who gave the...