During the month of March of the year 1998, a woman dying of breast cancer in Oregon asked her doctor to prescribe a drug that would allow her to put an end to her life. The doctor, although worried, agreed to her request, not wanting to cause her more pain and suffering as she slowly lost pieces of her life to the disease. Later that month, after saying goodbye to her, he took the drug. With that action alone, she became the first person in the United States to legally commit suicide with the help of a doctor. This has become known as euthanasia, or when doctors honor a patient's voluntary request for a lethal dose of medication, which the patient subsequently administers to himself to end his own life. Since late 1997, Oregon remains the only state to have provided clear procedures through which doctors can help end the pain and suffering of dying patients while protecting them from criminal prosecution. They were allowed to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to a terminally ill, mentally competent patient who makes written and oral requests, consults two doctors and endures a mandatory waiting period. Other states across the country are also making their own efforts to legalize euthanasia, however there is still a lot of controversy and debate on the sensitive topic. Due to the unbearable suffering and agony of the sick and elderly around the world, medically assisted suicide should undoubtedly be legalized in the United States. There are strong supporters and opponents of the act of assisted suicide. Some people believe that people should be allowed access to medical care to end their lives voluntarily when and how they choose to do so. Others believe euthanasia is essence... middle of paper... disease, suffering, chronic pain and age. Death can in fact become a form of happiness for those who choose it. If they are sane enough to choose it, each individual's fate is in their hands. Choosing self-liberation should be an option for those people who have reached a point in their lives where they really want to go down that path. While lifespan and treatment options will continue to increase in the future due to medical technological advances aimed at delaying the inevitability of death, this does not mean that quality of life has not changed throughout the process. Quality of life can and will worsen over the course of endless years of suffering and pain resulting from illness and physical breakdown. Everyone should be given the opportunity to choose their own destiny and, therefore, euthanasia should be legalized in the United States.