changing attitudes that people have toward death in general as well as the control over life and death. For example, in the mid-1970s, the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, a comatose patient, made the news when the United States Supreme Court permitted her father to shut off the respirator which had been keeping her alive against his wishes. In 1990, the topic of euthanasia again became a hot media issue with the case of Nancy Cruzan, a patient in a "persistent vegetative state" being kept alive through the use of a feeding tube, despite her parents' wishes to the contrary (Angell, 1990, p. 1226). The Cruzan case reflects many of the deep concerns surrounding the practice of euthanasia, and it also demonstrates the basic pros and cons which are involved in making such a decision. As such, the parents of the patient favored euthanasia because of the immense psychological and financial burdens involved in keeping their daughter alive with no hope of recovery. On the other hand, the doctors and nurses attending the patient were against euthanasia because they did not want to be responsible for causing a death when the medical technology exists to prevent this.
Prompted by the publicity surrounding the Cruzan case, Time magazine conducted a poll in order to determine how the American people feel about euthanasia in cases involving terminally-ill or brain-dead patients. It was discovered that there is more widespread acceptance of the idea of euthanasia in such cases today than there had been in the past. The poll also showed that this growing acceptance included active euthanasia in certain cases as well as passive euthanasia. Thus, it was noted that: "If a patient is terminally ill and unconscious but has left instructions in a living will, 81% believe the doctor should be allowed to withdraw life-sustaining treatment; 57% believe it is all right for doctors in such cases to go even further and administer lethal injections or provide...