Euthanasia and assisted suicide: the debate continues"This could never be a crime in any society that considers itself enlightened." So said Jack Kevorkian on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Nov. 22, in a segment featuring the first televised euthanasia death in the United States. Kevorkian offered the footage to CBS to dramatize his campaign for euthanasia for terminally and chronically ill patients. The film shows him giving a lethal injection in September to 52-year-old Thomas Youk, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). Kevorkian is shown ending Mr. Youk's life by injecting him with Seconal to put him to sleep, followed by a powerful muscle relaxant to stop his breathing and potassium chloride to stop his heart. Kevorkian says in the segment that he provided the footage to force his hand. Michigan prosecutors. “Either they go or I go,” he says. "If I get acquitted, they leave, because they know they'll never convict me. If I get convicted, I'll starve in prison, so I'll leave." In his book, Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide, Michael Manning, MD, states that both euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (in which the patient carries out the lethal act) result in the patient's premature death. He defines euthanasia as an action or omission that causes death to end suffering(1). Active euthanasia is the deliberate intervention of someone else to end the person's life(2); Passive euthanasia means the suspension of medical care(2), which is permitted if carried out to let the patient die alone. Euthanasia is voluntary or involuntary, depending on the person's decision-making capacity. The crux of the debate on euthanasia/assisted suicide is r...... at the heart of the document ......ternal Medicine 2240 (28 October 1996) Lee v. Oregon, 891 F.Supp. 1429 (D. Or. 1995), vacated for other reasons, 107 F.3d 1382 (9th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 118 S. Ct. 328 (1997). Manning, Michael, MD Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. New York: Paulist Press, 1998. “Poll Shows More Would Support Law Using Kinder Language,” TimeLines (January-February 1994): 9Rachels, James. “Passive and active euthanasia are equally acceptable.” Euthanasia. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1989. Washington v. Glucksberg, 117 S. Ct. 2258, 2262 n. 7 (1997.-- -- --. 117 S. Ct. at 2272, citing United States v. Rutherford, 442 US 544, 558. 1979. Washington Post, April 4, 1996. Wennberg, Robert. Terminal Choices: Euthanasia , Suicide and the Right to Die Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Co.,1990.