EUTHANASIA

also called Mercy Killing, act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from painful and incurable disease or incapacitating physical disorder. Because there is no specific provision for it in most legal systems, it is accounted either suicide (if performed by the patient himself) or murder (if performed by another). A physician may, however, lawfully decide not to prolong life where there is extreme suffering; and he may administer drugs to relieve pain, even though he knows that this may shorten the patient's life. In the late 20th century, several European countries had special provisions in their criminal codes for lenient sentencing and the consideration of extenuating circumstances in prosecutions for euthanasia. The opinion that euthanasia is morally permissible goes back to Socrates, Plato, and the Stoics. It is rejected in traditional Christian belief, chiefly because it is thought to come within the prohibition of murder in the Ten Commandments. The organized movement for legalization commenced in England in 1935, when C. Killick Millard founded the Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society (later called the Euthanasia Society). The society's bill was defeated in the House of Lords in 1936, and so also was a motion on the same subject in the House of Lords in 1950. In the United States, the Euthanasia Society of America was founded in 1938. The potential of modern medical practice to prolong life through technological means has provoked the question of what must be decided by the physician and the family in cases of extreme physical or emotional suffering, especially if the patient is incapable of choice. Passively doing nothing to prolong life or withdrawing life-support measures has resulted in criminal charges being brought against physicians; on the other hand, the families of comatose and apparently terminal patients have instituted legal action against the medical establishment to make them stop the use of extraordinary life support.