he lethal drug dose to the patient with his own hands. Since it is identical to homicide, euthanasia is illegal or a crime in most states. Although, the question is, how do prosecutors define the difference between ending a person's life with his or her permission, and helping a person commit suicide? If a doctor, at a patient's request, gives the person a lethal injection, he or she may be charged with murder. However, if a doctor simply places the lethal injection by the patient's side, and the patient injects himself or herself, the doctor would be charged with assisted suicide. Although, it is not a crime to be present when a person takes his or her life, "it is a crime to be involved with the action intended to help facilitate death, no matter how justifiable and compassionate the circumstances may be" (DeSimone 45). There are many questions to what is legal in euthanasia and assisted suicide due to differences in circumstances. Although euthanasia is considered a crime in most states, the punishments can be as harsh as imprisonment. It depends on the state, but in some places non-medical euthanasia that is performed at home is not seen as a crime as long as the deceased was dying from a terminal illness, is an adult, and clearly made the request.
             Interest in euthanasia in the United States began in 1870, when a commentator, Samuel Williams, proposed to the Birmingham Speculative Club that euthanasia be permitted "in all cases of hopeless and painful illness" to bring about "a quick and painless death" (Jens and Kung). The word painless is important. The idea of euthanasia didn't begin to gain popularity because of new technologies for prolonging life, but because of the discovery of new drugs, such as morphine for the relief of pain, that could also painlessly induce death. The debate culminated in 1906, after the Ohio legislature took up An Act Concerning Administration of Drugs to Mortally Injured and Diseased ...