Legal Status In USA
The legal condition of euthanasia is of immense importance since this is what that would eventually determine what kind of state of affair it would be in. In this article we shall discuss the legal state of the procedure in the United States of America.
USA is considered to be one of the most well known developed nations in the world and the technological advancement here allows the US citizens to live more. There are several life sustaining devices available in today's USA and people are no longer under threats from diseases that were considered to be greave threats previously. The courts here however have to deal with several instances of euthanasia in several ways. This article aims to throw light on the legal condition of this procedure and also on the several associated ethical nuances associated with it. The article also aims to shed some considerable amount of light on how the legal decisions have shaped the condition of euthanasia in the USA today.
The US courts first encountered a case of euthanasia in the year 1976 at the case of Quinlan. The patient Karen Ann Quinlan went into a coma after she mixed a lot of chemicals with alcohol. She couldn't be revived and thus her parents went to the court and appealed to have her respirator removed completely. The Supreme Court of the New Jersey passed the verdict that her parents had the right to remove her respirators and present her with a peaceful death - thanks to a great lawyer team, though. She could be allowed to die. This was a classic case of non-voluntary euthanasia where Karen's approval wasn't taken. She did survive for a period of nine years in a fetal like state since her parents didn't have her hydration and feeding tubes removed.
The next court and euthanasia case was witnessed when the New York Supreme Court found out that the patient in question refused to take in medicine and finally allowed him to decide the cases of voluntary and passive euthanasia. Much later a sort of similar conclusion was found in the verdicts of the Florida District Court. Other instances of euthanasia and courts of the USA took place when in the Medical Center of Severns v the Supreme Court of Delaware provided the proper authority and right to the husband of a coma stricken woman to remove her respirator or stop any treatment as he wanted it to be.
In another instance the California Supreme Court granted the wishes of an extremely depressed quadriplegic. This was done only after an evaluation of the psychiatric kind showcased the fact this request wasn't based on depression but on bad life quality. In yet another case the courts didn't restrict the passive euthanasia right of a young woman called Elizabeth Bouvia. She suffered from cerebral palsy and even tried to starve herself to death. Later according to the court her nasogastric feeding tube was removed and the court passed the verdict that she had the right to ask for the assistance of people helping her to end her life.