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5 BCE
Ancient Greeks and Romans
Ancient Greeks and Romans support euthanasia, many pagan physicians performed frequent abortions as well as voluntary and involuntary mercy killings. -
3 BCE
Earliest surviving copy of the Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic oath is an oath taken by physicians to this day that dates back to the time of Hippocrates. The oath includes ethical points that all physicions should follow. -
1300
Anglo Americans
Common law tradition has punished or otherwise disapproved of both suicide and assisting suicide -
1516
Sir Thomas More's Utopia
Sir Thomas More was the first prominent Christian to recommend euthanasia in his book Utopia, where the Utopian priests encourage euthanasia when a patient was terminally ill and suffering pain -
Francis Bacon
Sir Francis Bacon was the first to discuss prolongation of life as a new medical task,Bacon refers to this as outward euthanasia or the easy dying of the body. -
Common Law Prohibits Suicide and Assisted Suicide in the American Colonies
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Prussia Reduces Killing Penalty
a law was passed that reduced the punishment of a person who killed the patient with an incurable disease. -
Earliest American Statute Explicitly to Outlaw Assisting Suicide
Criminal code that prohibited "aiding" a suicide and, specifically, furnishing another person with any deadly weapon or poisonous drug, knowing that such person intends to use such weapon or drug in taking his own life -
Samuel Williams
Samuel Williams was the first popular advocate of active euthanasia. He wrote the first paper to deal with the concept of 'medicalized' euthanasia. -
American Medical Association Opposes Euthanasia
The Journal of the American Medical Association attacks Samuel Williams' euthanasia proposal as an attempt to make "the physician don the robes of an executioner." -
Nietsche
German philosopher Nietsche, said that terminally ill patients are a burden to others and they should not have the right to live in this world. -
Killing Law
German lawyer, Heinz Jost, prepared a book called "Killing Law." Jost stressed that only hopelessly ill patients who wanted death must be let die. -
First Euthanasia Bill Drafted in US
The bill was rejected -
Dr. Haiselden
Dr. Haiselden allowed a baby boy to die rather than give him a possibly life-saving surgery. By declining to operate, Haiselden managed to accomplish what other defenders of euthanasia before him had not. The publicity surrounding his professional conduct inspired other Americans to speak out in favor of letting deformed infants die for the good of society -
The Black Stork
The film was inspired by the sensational case of Dr. Harry Haiselden, a Chicago surgeon who convinced the parents of a newborn with multiple disabilities to let the child die instead of performing surgery that would save its life -
Great Depression
Public suppourt for euthanasia increased over the time of the great depression -
Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation Society Founded
The Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation Society (VELS) is founded in England by C. Killick Millard, a retired public health physician.
