lethal pills" (Gibbs, 1990, p. 64). Furthermore, the Time poll indicated that a majority of Americans believe that the question of euthanasia should be a personal one rather than a legal one. Thus, 80 percent of those questioned claimed that "decisions about ending the lives of terminally ill patients who cannot decide for themselves should be made by their families and doctors rather than lawmakers" (p. 64).
The controversy surrounding the Cruzan case also caused many members of the medical profession to step forward and express their own growing acceptance of the practice of euthanasia under certain circumstances. Thus, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that "prominent physicians have recently stated that it is not immoral for a physician to assist in the rational suicide of a terminally ill patient" (Sprung, 1990. p. 2211). The
...