Euthanasia (also known as mercy killing) is the act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from painful or incurable disease or incapacitating physical disorder. The question about weather this is morally right or wrong has posed a major ethical dilemma on the world today.
             The advance of medical technology is bringing a steadily growing majority of deaths into hospitals where life, of a sort, may be prolonged for a long time. Someone has to decide what nature used to decide for us. That decision is no longer taken privately in a small family group but amidst a constantly changing crowd of doctors, nurses, patients and technicians.
             Because there is no specific provision for Euthanasia in most systems, it is considered suicide, if done by the patient, or murder, if done by the doctor. A physician may lawfully decide not to prolong the life of some one who is in extreme pain and suffering. They may administer drugs to relieve pain, even though the doctor knows this may shorted the life of the patient. In several European countries, there were there were special provisions in their criminal codes for lenient sentencing and consideration of extenuating circumstances in prosecutions for euthanasia.
             Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a doctor who openly supports euthanasia has been in and out of court and jail for being held responsible for the deaths of over 50 people that were in his care at the time of death. His "suicide machine?has helped many end their lives. Although no one thinks that Kevorkian was thought of as a murderer by the patients, it raises many ethical questions about whether it should be decided by doctor or patient when it is time to die.
             The opinion that euthanasia is morally permissible dates back to Socrates, Plato and the Stoics. It is rejected in traditional Christian beliefs, mainly because it is thought to come within the prohibition of murder in the Sixth Commandment. The organized movement t...